Time to Develop
by lunastars
Summary: Over time Carol and Daryl's friendship has continued to develop but this time around it seems that their friendship has gone to a whole new level. When Daryl storms off after hunting one day it prompts him and Carol to have a little conversation that reveals more than they ever expected.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:**_I started writing this ages ago, around about the time season 3 episode 10 was being shown and I can't for the life of me remember the full idea for this one-shot so I just kept writing and went with the flow so to speak. It totally disregards the last few episodes of season 3 for sure._

* * *

Carol boldly followed an angry Daryl into the apartment they had claimed. They were still unsure as to why they left the prison exactly, well not too unsure exactly. After they won the battle against the Governor they made a truce with the members of Woodbury. Naturally the idea of joining the new (and hopefully improved) version of Woodbury was appealing to most of the group but they decided against it and stuck to their prison. But as the days went pass more and more walkers appeared outside the fences and were spilling in through the damaged side of the prison. If they waited too long their path would be block even for a quick supply run. That had been their prompt to move, especially when they would spend the whole day taking out walkers to have another three stumble forward for each ten that they killed. It was an endless cycle.

With all the shooting and fighting they couldn't be surprised. Even those who had just stumbled within the area when the fighting stopped had a good chance of finding the prison. It wasn't safe anymore even if they had won the war. So Daryl, Rick and surprisingly Merle left in search of somewhere new to stay. With a baby in the group they couldn't just leave and hope, no, they had to find somewhere then move the group. And they did. An old building site. Only two houses had been built along with the showroom house where the real estate people would have set up their temporary offices while they sold on the houses. There was also a small garage near the two houses that had a small apartment above it. The area was locked up with a chain link fence just like back in the prison and it was hidden away from civilisation.

The group had moved there almost instantly. They'd already checked out the houses and found them empty, as well as the immediate area enclosed by the fence. As soon as they got there they made sure Hershel, Beth and Judith got inside while they reinforced the boundaries. They used the construction materials that were there to reinforce the fences that were already up and then to put up a second fence slightly further in. They had it done in a couple of days, including other things like setting up different watch points and entry/exit points.

Once the area had really been secured they split up into groups. Beth, Maggie, Hershel and Glenn took one of the houses, which was dubbed the Greene house. It was a three bedroom so they all had one each (with Maggie and Glenn sharing). Rick, Carl, Judith, Michonne and Andrea took the second house, which was dubbed the Grimes house. It had a third floor so Michonne and Andrea had taken that to themselves so the Grimes family could have the second floor for their own private space. While the Dixon brothers choose the showroom house Carol took the small apartment above the garage. It was next to the two houses while showroom was a little way off. It reminded the group of when Daryl would set his tent away from everyone else's. She had been happy to have the space to herself, but slowly Daryl started spending more time there when he wasn't busy and eventually he practically moved in.

"Leave me alone," he told her angrily.

"It's my house Daryl, so I'll stay if I want to."

He turned that typical glare on her, the one she had grown used to now, the one that had little to no effect on her whatsoever. So she stood there, hands on her hips and her own glare set in place. Eventually he hissed in anger and just looked away from her. He made his way over to their little couch and sat down in the middle of it. His legs stretched out in front of him and he placed his hands behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling.

"You going to tell me what's bugging you or what?" she asked.

He turned his eyes to her for a moment before looking up at the ceiling again. "What do you think?"

"Just when I thought we were getting somewhere," she sighed.

He turned his glare on her again but this time she wasn't looking. Instead she made her way over to their little kitchen. They'd made their own fire pit and put it on top of the cooker, where they had a little window to let out any smoke. If they got some gas they could probably use the cooker but for now they would use the fire pit like they would if they were camping. It could be moved as well which meant they could place it in the bedroom or living room to keep them warm. The fridge and freezer didn't work either but they used it for extra storage. Some food was given to the individual group for lunches and snacks during the day if they were needed. While most of the food was kept separately so that the entire group could eat together for breakfast and dinner like they always had.

She could hear him getting up off the couch and coming towards the kitchen. There was no wall to separate the kitchen and living room. She could just tell by the way that he was walking that he was still angry. And she still didn't know why. He had gone outside of the boundaries to hunt with Merle like normal and she had gone about her day being as useful as possible with chores, something they still shared as an entire group. The sun had been out but with a slight breeze so the day was enjoyable. Except when Daryl was back he was angry, he had nothing with him which made Carol think that he was angry at that but then she saw Andrea with the string of squirrels. So she got up from her spot next to Rick and followed him inside. Now here they were and he wasn't talking to her, again.

"You can't force me to talk to ya," he told her through gritted teeth.

"I'm not forcing you." She still kept her back to him, working _very_ carefully on cutting up some of the fruit they found growing on the trees inside the boundaries. "That's why I came in here to get on with some lunch. I'm not going to force you to talk, Daryl but I wish you would. I thought we'd gotten close, I thought you trusted me so I just wish you would just talk to me when something's bothering you rather than bottle it up. Do you think I'll laugh? Judge? Mock you? Because I won't, I'll listen and I'll help as best as I can."

This time she did turn to look at him. The way his eyebrows were bunched together and he was chewing on his thumb nail told her that he was thinking about what she had said. And she meant it. Every word of it. They'd grown close over the winter, while they were at the prison and again after they left it and came here. This had been the biggest step forward in their friendship. They shared an apartment and although they didn't share the double bed, they slept in the same room, him offering to take the floor so she could have the bed. But still he kept to himself until it burnt away and whatever was bugging him just stopped.

"Don't think about it," she told him, holding up a slice of apple as a peace offering. "I'm not angry or anything, Daryl. I've told you enough times that I'm here for you to talk to and if you're not going to well then what more can I do?"

"I do trust ya," he finally said, taking the apple slice from her. "Well as much as I can anyway. I never trusted Merle this much, still don't, and I don't even trust Rick as much as I trust you. Just enough that I can work and live with him."

"Then talk to me," she pleaded. "Or talk to someone. I hate to see you angry or upset. I only want to help you."

He nodded his head in understanding. "It's just something stupid."

"My guess is it's to do with Merle or something happened when you got back here." She turned her back to him again, continuing to cut the fruit and dispense it into two bowls. "Because I know you caught quite a lot this time around so it wasn't that. So unless Merle said something out there it was something back here."

"Fine, it was something back here," he admitted.

"Then what was it?" This time when she turned back around she handed one of the bowls to Daryl and kept one for herself.

The fruit was carefully picked at as he seemed to think over what to say next. "Don't even know why I was angry now."

"That's a lie if I ever heard one. Daryl, you can calm down quickly but you can't get over it that quickly."

He growled in frustration, realising that she had noticed more about him that he first thought. "Dammit, woman, it's nothing, now drop it."

She continued to eat her fruit, not letting his frustrated tone get to her. "It most definitely isn't nothing and just because you think it's stupid doesn't mean I will."

"Just fucking leave it, will ya?"

She set her bowl on the counter behind her. "Now, I'm starting to think it's about me."

His eyes grew wide for just a moment. "It ain't."

"Are you sure about that? Because if it is to do with me I'd rather know."

He glared at her again but after a few minutes passed he realised that she wasn't about to give up on this. "Fine, maybe it does have something to do with ya."

She sighed, having no idea what she could have done seen as he'd been out all morning. She grabbed his hand lightly and gave him a few moments to adjust. Once he had she took him over to the small table they had. It only sat two people, usually across from each other but this time when they sat Carol moved round the table a little so she was closer to him while still giving him some space to breathe.

"So, talk me through it."

For a moment he considered arguing or just simply walking out but now that he'd said it was about her he knew he couldn't. "Merle was being decent for a change, been doin' that a lot lately. So it was actually the best huntin' trip I've had in a long time."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," she told him honestly.

He nodded a little, seemingly relaxing into the conversation. "When we got back here I couldn't see ya so I gave the string of squirrels to Andrea, she and Michonne had seen me and offered to clean and skin them. Apparently Michonne knew how and I guess I could always continue on the job if it got too much."

Carol nodded her understanding but didn't say anything.

"Merle said he was heading back to the showroom to get rid of some of his gear and maybe clean up a bit and get some shut eye," Daryl explained. "I was gonna come back here and do the same but I still hadn't seen you. It unsettled me to not know you were OK so I… I looked around a bit and I saw you sitting outside of the Grimes house with Rick…"

"Oh." It came out in a little gasp as the fingers of her left hand came up to cover her mouth. He was _jealous_. She knew that now. He was jealous. And no wonder he found it stupid, it was the kind of emotion he would find stupid, especially seen as they were only supposed to be friends.

Carol's mind wandered back over the events of that morning. Daryl was already gone when she woke so she went straight outside to do chores. They had a somewhat schedule, but of course it never worked. Beth was in doors with Herhsel and Carl, the three of them looking after Judith and generally just relaxing. Andrea and Michonne were sorting the food they already had, getting things ready to cook for dinner later. Glenn and Maggie were on watch, this time they'd been separated 'cause there were only two of them, making sure they would actually _watch_. One was walking the perimeter between the two chain link fences while the other stayed high up. Daryl and Merle were out so that left her with Rick. She was meant to do laundry but with the absence of running around and killing zombies regularly there wasn't any, it had been done the day before, she'd only have some when the Dixons got back from hunting. And Rick, well Rick was supposed to be on watch but he wasn't when she found him. He'd spoke to Maggie and Glenn about it and instead sat out to scour the area on a map, marking the places they could scavenge and was even marking down escape routes in case any trouble came and they had to move. They were happy but couldn't be too careful.

Carol had helped him do it, they even dwelled into cleaning the guns. They ended up on the discussions of what shops they might come across. They discussed what would be needed, the usual essentials for surviving but they spoke of things they probably didn't need but would like to have. Thinking back Carol remembered how loudly she'd laughed, the kind of laughter that had you rolling all over the place, the kind that hurt your stomach and you had to hold onto the person next to you for balance. And she'd done all of that. She remembered holding onto Rick's arm for support as they discussed what movies they would get if they could play them. She didn't regret it. She hadn't seen Rick smile like that in so long, in fact she wasn't sure she'd ever heard him laugh before, or at least she couldn't remember it. So she was happy that the morning had played out that way.

"You were jealous?" she finally asked him. He scoffed and she rolled her eyes at the sound. "Then what was the issue with me sitting outside with Rick?"

He looked at the ground. _Ha_, she thought. _Jealous_. "Fine, maybe I was, I guess, alright?"

She grinned a little. "Why?"

He looked a little startled by that. "What do you mean?"

"Why were you jealous?"

"You were hanging off of him and laughing," he shrugged. "I know I flinch a lot but I still don't like you hanging off of him like that, or anyone else for that matter. And the laughing… I've never heard you laugh like that before. I guess I just didn't like that it was Rick that made you laugh like that."

"I think it was more the topic of conversation," she admitted. He looked up, startled. "We were talking about movies." He nodded, calming slightly. "And I keep touching you lightly, like when I took hold of your hand earlier, because I want you to get used to it before I get that close to you. I never could be like that with anyone, I didn't have friends and Ed wasn't exactly loving. So I'm sorry if it looked like more than what it was but I promise I have no interest in Rick in that way."

He went to nod but then something seemed to hit him. "Wait, why would you do that?"

"Do what?" she asked, confused.

"Apologise for what it might have looked like to me."

"You may avoid feelings but I don't Daryl," she sighed. "I thought our relationship – friendship - developed a lot over the winter but since coming here it's developed more and I don't think we can deny how close we've gotten."

"But it's not like we're… Together." She couldn't help but notice how his eyes darted to the table and his cheeks burned bright red at the word 'together'.

"Oh." Well he was right, they weren't together so really she shouldn't be sorry for how it could have looked between her and Rick to him. But she wasn't about to deny the fact that her feelings for Daryl had somewhat changed from that of friendship to more. Yeah, she most definitely saw him in a different light. "I guess you're right…"

He lifted his head to look at her. "But?"

She groaned a little and ran her hand over her face. So this is what answering something you didn't want to felt like. "I guess it's because if something as simple as that stops us from being together then I'd rather be sorry. I'd rather still have the hope of us being together than risk losing you completely."

"Oh."

_That wasn't so bad_, she thought. _He's not saying much but he hasn't bolted._

"Dammit, Daryl," she groaned after a few minutes of silence. "Please just say something."

"I…"

"I'm not saying we need to be a together or anything," she explained desperately. "I don't want you to be off with me… I just figured I should explain why seen as you told me what was wrong."

"So you like me?"

Now she was the one to feel embarrassed but she couldn't deny that that little light in his eyes and the smile on his face made it worth it. "Well… I think it's a little stronger than what you're thinking but I'd say so."

"I… Well, I don't really know what to do."

"You don't have to do anything," she laughed. "All you need to know is that you don't have to be jealous because I'm not interested in the any of the guys or women of this group except you."

He watched her carefully, looking for any sign of doubt or a trace of a lie, but he found none. That stumped Daryl. Merle had said he cared about him, the entire group even said they cared but Carol… She was talking about this romantically, she was interested in him. And what happened next? Daryl tried to work it out because he didn't know. He knew they were close, hell he wasn't ever that close with Merle or even Rick. But he never thought his feelings ran that deep but hearing that hers ran that deep for him, maybe he was wrong, maybe he just didn't know what being in love was like. It all had Daryl thinking.

"Tell you what." She placed her hands on top of one of his. "Why don't you clean up and get some shut eye while I do the laundry. After we'll take a walk if we have time then have some dinner, we can bring the rest up here after or eat the rest of the fruit bowls for dessert and we can talk some more if you want to."

"Or maybe go for another walk?" he asked hopefully. "Or maybe we can sit in bed and you can tell me more about what you and Rick were discussing. I'd like to know what makes you laugh like that."

She blushed a little but nodded her head. "It's a date." This time they both blushed.

* * *

_R&R_


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **_I wrote this second chapter because some people said they wanted to see more so I decided on this. I'm considering turning it into a full length at some point but I'm not entirely sure. I'd love to know what you think of this chapter, it would really help me to decide whether to continue or keep it as a two-shot._

* * *

Carol went to do laundry like she said while Daryl cleaned up and got some shut eye. It didn't take her long to do it, neither brother had that much to get washed so she found herself walking around on her own for a bit. She could smell dinner when she passed Michonne and Andrea, and she could hear giggles when she got closer to where Beth, Hershel, Carl and Judith were. Maggie and Glenn planned to stay on watch until dinner, she shook her head when she spotted them on the vantage point together. When she found herself getting bored of walking she spotted Rick. He was leaning over the large table they'd put outside for them to sit at when the weather was nice.

"What's wrong?" she asked as she got closer.

"My markings are a bit jumbled," he sighed.

She looked down at the map. There were tiny little dots everywhere that he'd made with the marker pen. They were clearly of some importance but she couldn't work it out, and it seemed that he had forgotten what they all stood for too.

"OK," she started, pulling the pen from his hand so she could hold it. "What things were you looking on the map for?"

He stood up straight as he thought about it. "Places for supplies, places to hold up if we have to run again, escape routes to those places and empty locations. The map is old so they might not be empty now."

"Right," she nodded before changing some of the dots into little x's. "We'll mark the empty places with x's." She then turned the map over and wrote "Unknown = X" before flipping it back over.

"A key," he nodded. "That could help."

She smiled at him briefly as they got to work. They marked supplies with a rectangle, they marked possible safe places with circles and kept escape routes as dots. They talked about going out soon to check them out and how they would get a new map (that would hopefully be more up-to-date) to mark down what they found.

"So…" He started hesitantly. "What was wrong with Daryl?"

She considered telling him seen as it did involve him, but she figured that Daryl wouldn't be happy and that was more important to her, so she shrugged. "You know what Daryl's like, smallest thing can set him off."

"Is he alright now?"

"Yeah, he's eaten a little, he should be showering and getting some rest," she smiled. "He'll be his same old self soon."

"Good." He rolled the map up and pushed the pen into his pocket. "I'd hate for him to keep things to himself." He held the map up a little as he went to leave. "Thanks for this, maybe you could come out on one of the trips?"

She nodded her head before she could think about it, she never went so it could prove a good thing to get out there. As he walked away she thought about it some more. Thinking back she hadn't really done much. She never went on runs and she didn't do that much when it came to fighting. Sure she did a lot to help back here but not out there, maybe she could change that.

This time when she wandered around she spotted Daryl. He had clearly just gotten up. His hair was messy and he was rubbing his eye a little. She ran her eyes over him, confident that he wasn't fully awake enough to catch her. She was amazed, it was one of the few time she'd seen him without his bow. It was nowhere in sight, probably up in the room where he'd put it before he went to shower.

When he did seem to wake up a little more he spotted her. She smiled at him as he walked straight to her. He stopped awkwardly in front of her as if he wasn't quite sure what to do next. She raised her hand very slowly and carefully fixed his messy hair. He shivered slightly but remained still until she was done. But as her hand dropped he grabbed it. She looked down as he held her hand and gave it a slight squeeze.

"Dinner's almost ready," she whispered.

"I tried hard to get more than squirrel…"

"Squirrel will do just fine," she assured with a little laugh. "We all know how hard you try out there, we're thankful that you bring _something_ back, doesn't matter what it is."

A loud cough sounded behind them. Both turned to see Merle stood there. "_We_ tried hard out there, _we_ brought something back."

"Yes, Merle," Carol sighed. "You helped too, we're appreciative of your hard work too, don't worry about that."

"Good, don't want ya disrespecting ol' Merle," he chuckled.

"She can do whatever she wants," Daryl shot at him.

Merle's face turned into that of anger as he stalked forward, Carol would have been scared but he suddenly stopped as he got closer. His eyes fell on her hand, the one that Daryl still held. Suddenly a smirk appeared on his face.

"Alright," he nodded as he turned to walk away. "I get it, she's got a special pass so to speak."

"No!" Daryl said hastily but Merle was already away. "Merle!"

Carol tugged his hand lightly. "What?"

"Nothing," he mumbled, dropping her hand now.

"Daryl?"

"Dinner's probably ready."

She watched as he walked over to where everyone was waiting. She shook her head and followed after him, trying to work out what Merle meant by "special pass" and why it bothered Daryl as much as it did, why was he so desperate to get Merle's attention just now?

* * *

"Hey," she spoke softly when she found Daryl.

During dinner he was silent and then after he disappeared. She wanted to look for him but she'd promised to help clean up, but as soon as she had she went looking. She found him at theirs. She'd used the word a lot since he practically moved in but she still found herself smiling at the word 'theirs'.

"Hi," he mumbled back. He was lying on the couch, head prompt up by the arm. One of the fruit bowls was rested on his chest and he was eating it carefully.

"You ran off," she whispered.

"Sorry."

"I was just wondering if it had anything to do with what Merle said?"

He nodded. "Don't worry about it though, he says some crazy shit."

"What did he mean about me having a special pass?"

"Oh." He seemed to realise that she had no idea what Merle had meant. So that was what had bothered him, he was scared she would know and not like it. "Nothing."

"How about we take that walk?" she suggested. "We never got the chance before."

He placed the now empty bowl on the floor and got up. She took that as a yes, especially when he started to pull on his boots and lace them up. She waited patiently and once he was ready they headed outside, her grabbing up the other fruit bowl on the way out.

They walked and she ate while they did. When she finished they passed the main table so she could leave it there for now. She hoped that after walking for a bit without having to talk he would want to but he kept completely silent. She knew what Merle said had to be bad, or bad to Daryl because he seemed to be thinking and worrying about it an awful lot.

"Will you please tell me what he meant?"

They were by the fence and had moved to walk along it. "He thinks we're together."

"When he saw you holding my hand," she nodded.

"Exactly," he agreed. "He'd be angry still if you did something to piss him off but he can't fly off the handle on ya because he'd be over stepping the line."

"Boundaries?" she chuckled. "Your brother has been addicted to drugs, he was a horrid drunk and let's face it he was everything ranging from a pig to a racist. Yet he has boundaries for _this_?"

"We're brothers," Daryl shrugged. "He doesn't mess with what's mine and I don't mess with what's his, end of."

"You seemed angry about it," she pointed out, stopping in her tracks.

"Well you ain't mine," he shrugged.

She nodded her head and moved over to the fence. She linked her fingers through it and watched out at nothing. They'd been lucky only a handful of walkers had come near since they got there, much less than what they ever had at the prison. She could hear Daryl walk up behind her.

"Did I do something?"

"No," she sighed.

"Tell me," he mumbled. "I do stuff and I sometimes don't realise how it might seem."

"Does it bother you that much that your brother might think we're together?" She knew it was stupid, but she wanted to know. She wasn't a child, she could handle it if the thought disgusted him, scared him, made him angry. Anything. She could handle it but after admitting that she had feelings for him it upset her, couldn't he have said something sooner?

"No…" She turned her head so see him frowning. "I… No. Course not."

"Then why were you so freaked out?"

"I didn't want you to get all worried and freaked out," he admitted. "I know what ya told me but that was between us, wasn't sure you'd want anyone to suspect it."

"So it's not me?"

He shook his head sternly. He was still behind her slightly so he stepped closer, his chest brushing against her back as he reached round and placed his hand on hers, the one that held the fence. She could feel how tense he was but she smiled, he was trying.

"Daryl-"

"Hold on." She stayed quiet as he took a couple of deep breathes and forced himself to relax. Eventually his body did drop some of its tension. "Go on."

"I kinda liked it."

"Liked what?" he mumbled.

"Merle thinking we were together," she shrugged. "It made me think about it, and I liked it."

"Even though I can barely do this without scaring myself?"

"What scares you about it?" she whispered. "You've touched me before, in fact, you've massaged my shoulder before."

"That was different, I was only touching your shoulder," he shrugged. "It was light, different."

"You've carried me."

"You needed me."

She wriggled her hand free and turned around. She leaned back against the fence so that they were still close but there was a little bit of space between them. They watched each other carefully. She smiled as his breathing went completely back to normal and he looked at ease again.

"Yes," she told him. "I liked it even though doing that scared you."

"But why?"

"Because you're trying," she shrugged. "You're going out of your comfort zone for… Me. I think."

He nodded. "But don't people like hold hands and stuff?"

"We hold hands," she told him.

"But that's never for long."

"So?"

"What about other stuff?" She could see his cheeks turn a light shade of pink as he spoke. She really did feel sorry for him. He was freaking out about Merle thinking they were together because he was worried he couldn't give her a 'real' relationship, he was scared that he couldn't do all the supposedly conventional things.

"We can work up to it," she suggested.

"It's not fair on ya," he mumbled.

"Tell you what… I'm going to do something, and it may put you out of your comfort zone but I promise it will only be now, never again if you don't want it, OK?"

"What are you going to do?" He sounded scared, unsure.

"I'm going to try some stuff and ask you how you feel about it," she explained. "I know it's hard but it'll only be once, and anything you don't like… I won't do it again until you initiate it or ask, OK?"

He nodded so she reached out and took hold of his hand, still he tensed so she held it a little loosely. "How's that?"

"That better," he admitted.

"OK, well we'll hold hands properly and when it gets too much we can loosen grips or take a break," she smiled. He nodded again so she dropped her hand from his and stood up straight. She placed her hand on his chest, keeping some distance between them, but she carefully leaned in a little.

"This one OK?"

He gulped and tried to will himself to calm down. "It's not terrible."

She dropped her hand and carefully wrapped an arm around his waist, leaning into his side quietly. "That's OK," he whispered before she could ask but is voice wavered a little. She faced him again and wrapped both arms around him, only holding him loosely as she rested her head on his chest.

"This too?"

He was tense but she felt him nod. "I could get used to it I'm sure."

"Final one," she breathed out as she stepped back. "You trust me?"

He took a deep breath and nodded. She stayed where she was but rose on her tip-toes slightly. He placed a hand on her hip automatically to stop her from falling. He watched her carefully as she leaned in and gently placed her lips to his. She kissed him, it was only brief before she pulled away again.

When she looked up at him she didn't know how to respond. His hand dropped from her waist and he just stared at her. He looked like his whole world was coming down, like something completely horrible had happened to him. She would normally feel angry or upset at such a thing but she knew he didn't mean it. He just wasn't used to that sort of thing.

"Daryl?"

He shook his head. "Maybe the hug was enough," he grumbled.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"You didn't," he mumbled.

"It was too much," she nodded.

Before he could say much else she smiled and led the way back. He tried very much to get his mouth to work so he could talk to her about it but no sound came out. So they kept on walking. She picked up the bowl on her way pass but didn't stop. She just headed straight for home. They'd had a late dinner so everyone was going in earlier, it would be dark soon and they agreed that even with the fences they'd stay inside with only those on watch being outside.

When she got inside she checked the curtains were closed and secure before she lit the lantern they had to light the place. The living room and kitchen shared one, the bathroom had one just in case and the bedroom had one. She'd lit the kitchen/living room one but headed for the bedroom. She changed quickly in the dark instead of turning the light on.

Daryl was sat on the couch when she'd come out, he too had changed into something more comfortable. They looked at each other briefly before looking away. She moved over and sat on the opposite end of the couch. He played with his knife while she picked up the book she'd started reading. She'd found it tucked away, it was probably for show when people could finally look at the houses but she took it anyway, anything to keep her going. It was boring but she couldn't exactly be picky now could she?

As they sat in silence her mind strayed from the book. She thought about her little experiment. He seemed comfortable with holding hands to some degree. Her leaning on him unease him slightly but that would most likely not happen much anyway. And he hadn't seemed completely freaked by the hugs, just the kiss. She'd have to work up the others until he felt more comfortable but it could work. And she knew she wasn't angry or upset about the kiss but it was the one she couldn't forget about. He seemed so scared. She wondered if that was the first time he'd been kissed. She wondered a lot actually and eventually it got too much.

"I'm going bed," she announced as she stood up. "Goodnight."

She rushed into her room, feeling like an embarrassed teenager. She leaned against the door as it shut, cursing herself for not just talking to him about it, asking him outright how he felt about it and why he reacted like he did. It would make things a whole lot better but it still didn't make her go out there and ask him. Instead she moved over to the bed and climbed under the covers. She rolled onto her side and stared at the wall.

Some time passed, she wasn't sure how long but the door opened and she was woken. She kept her back to the door and tried to stay quiet as she closed her eyes. If she feigned sleep then maybe he would go away, because she knew it was Daryl, she could tell. But he didn't go away, instead he walked further into the room. And suddenly the bed dipped.

She went to say something but she froze when she felt a hand on her hip. She turned over to see him lying on his side. "I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"For what?" she asked quietly.

"Hurting ya."

"Who said you hurt me?"

"It's written all over ya face," he told her. "I know how I reacted probably didn't help."

She rolled onto her side so she was facing him properly. "I shouldn't have kissed you, I already knew that was too far."

"It's not like I've never kissed someone," he told her after a while. "'Cause I have, just not since I was really young."

"Go on," she urged, wanting to know.

"I was real young and this girl kissed me on playground." He wrinkled his nose up at how it sounded. "But it was before my Dad… Well, you know… So I even kissed her back. We were only about six though so it probably wasn't a proper kiss but still."

"Then you're Dad started…?"

He nodded. "Right. I kept to myself after that so I never got a girlfriend or nothing like that. On and off between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five Merle tried to get me with a girl."

"Why on and off?" she whispered, afraid to speak any louder in case her voice broke.

"Juvey, prison, leaving us…"

"But he stayed at some point, right?" Carol guessed. "'Cause he's here with you now."

"He was twenty when he went to prison, I was thirteen," Daryl explained. "He was in there for two years but when he got out he'd had to come home because he had nothing but after a year of seeing the old man hadn't changed he got off his ass, got a job and left."

"Then what?" Carol croaked out.

"Mom died in her own bed when Merle was twelve, I was about five. I wasn't in when it happened. He was in juvey before that, and after it too so I was left with Dad or even on my own." He stopped talking and his eyes fell on the space between them. She didn't push him. She heard some things about his past but he never spoke for long. "Dad died and Merle decided to stick around for good," he mumbled. "I was about eighteen, he'd given up on the girls so he'd just leave me to my own devices while he went out. It was like living on my own but then he'd bring girls back and they'd… Ask about me."

"So he tried to get you interested."

"I never was though," he shrugged. "He tried for a long time but by time my mid-twenties hit he got bored again."

"So what did you do between now and then?"

"Worked a lot," he smiled. "Merle switched to teaching me even more about hunting and tracking. I could do it and was pretty good but not as good as I am now. I spent all that time perfecting it."

"You do pretty good now," she smiled. "But Daryl, why are you telling me all this?"

He took a deep breath as he watched her. She didn't rush him, just waited patiently.

"All that stuff… I was uncomfortable," he admitted.

"I know," she whispered. "And that's OK."

"But if we were together then it wouldn't be…"

"Daryl…"

"So," he said quickly. "I wanted to tell you all that to explain but also to show ya I trust ya, that I need ya."

She smiled and shuffled a little bit closer while still leaving a gap. By telling her a bit more about his past he was opening up to her, showing her that he cared and wanted her in his own way. Her hand reached out and carefully touched his chest. He shivered but stayed where he was.

"Daryl," she whispered. "We don't have to do anything you don't want to."

"I don't know what I want," he admitted. "Like I said, I haven't done anything like this since I was six."

She chuckled slightly. "Well, do you want us to be together or do you just want something casual?"

"Casual how?"

"Well normally I'd say sleeping around and stuff like that… But I'm assuming you'd say no to that?"

He nodded. "What's the other casual?"

"We keep it to ourselves, don't tell anyone until you're ready…" She blushed a little, realising what she was saying. She was talking about a relationship here. "I mean, we don't even have to be together. We can just stay friends."

"I don't want to be friends."

She looked up in alarm but she giggled a little at the pout on his face, causing him to smile for the briefest of moments. She moved her hand down and laced hers with his. "I need you to be sure about this."

"I am," he nodded. "Too late to go back now."

"No-" But she was cut off as he squeezed her hand again. "Then do we tell people or not?"

"Not… For now," he decided.

She wanted to ask why but the way he squeezed her hand again and blushed had her changing her mind. Deep down she knew, deep down she realised that he still worried that he wouldn't be able to give her a good enough relationship so he was more than likely keeping it a secret so not to embarrass her. Not that she would be. Hell, even before the world went to hell she'd be proud to have someone like Daryl. It didn't matter to her that she wouldn't be holding his hand all the time or that she wouldn't get kisses every second of the day. Hell, they did pretty well as they were so why would she change it? No, she'd help him, she'd wait as long as it took for him to get used to her, to trust her completely. It would be worth it after all.

"OK," she finally nodded. "We'll take things slow and not stress about it too much, and then tell them all when you feel ready."

He blushed suddenly and looked back at the empty spot between them.

"What is it?" If she was going to help him she'd need to know what worked and what didn't.

"Can I have another kiss?"

It came out in a little squeak so she wasn't sure she'd heard him right but when he bit his lip and looked up at her carefully she knew she had. He looked unsure, he looked afraid that he'd done something stupid. She shuffled even closer and gave him the smallest of nods.

Carefully he moved closer so she stayed still, letting him take control. She knew how uncomfortable he had been before so if he did it then he could stop at any time. As he got closer she held tightly to his hand and prayed the rest of her wouldn't move until the time was right. Very slowly, and very carefully, he pressed his lips to hers.

_Don't move, don't move_, she begged internally. _Stay still and wait._

She relaxed as he applied more pressure and squeezed her hand. As he got more into it she finally kissed him back. She allowed herself to move then, moving her body even closer as they kissed so that they were only just touching. She parted her lips and moved her tongue out just as he pulled away.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

She rested her forehead against his chest. "I don't see why. That was more than acceptable, in fact, I feel a little giddy." He tensed but when she giggled a little he draped his arm over her waist. She wanted to move in case but she didn't know when she'd get this opportunity again so she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Daryl mumbled a little until he realised she'd drifted off to sleep. He took a few breaths before he realised that this wasn't so bad at all and he too fell to sleep.

* * *

_R&R_


	3. Chapter 3

_Carol closed her eyes to the sensations she was feeling, unsure of how she was meant to contain them. Unsure if she even wanted to. She was pinned down by his body but she wasn't trapped. That, mixed with the sensation of him being so close to her, so connected, had her mind whirling._

_"Am I hurting you?"_

_Typical Daryl, she thought as she let out a shaky breath. "No."_

_"Shame," he snarled._

_Carol felt her heart rate pick up. That wasn't Daryl and it certainly wasn't friendly either. It didn't sound like teasing, like he was going to test the waters but like he was seriously pissed off that he hadn't hurt her yet._

_Slowly and unsurely she opened her eyes, but the second she did she wished she hadn't. Daryl wasn't the one hovering above her anymore. Instead, much to her horror, it was Ed. She could smell the alcohol on his breath, that definitely wasn't there before which told her that she wasn't crazy, Daryl was there originally._

_Suddenly her mind caught up with her. She didn't want to be in this situation. All the joy she felt before was drained and panic was slowly setting in. She lashed out at him, not wanting to let him win this time. When Ed got his beaten in the quarry she had felt sorry for him because she was his wife and that was her job but after he died and she smashed his skull in she just grew angry, angry at herself for not standing up for herself sooner._

_Her hands lashed out at his face as her body bucked in an attempt to throw him off. He only laughed at her and held her down harder. He was laughing loudly now, and it only grew as a sharp pain started in Carol's side. Looking down she realised that he'd dug his nails into her side, causing his ridicuously short nails to draw blood. The pressure was unbearable and she let out a scream as he dragged his fingers down towards her hip. As she fought the pain and thrashed against him she felt the back of his hand slap her cheek.  
_  
"Carol!"

Her eyes flew open. She was awake and she never felt more relieved. Her eyes found Daryl, he was tangled up in the sheets, hands on her shoulders as if he'd been shaking her. She noticed his boots and clothes were dirty, but she didn't mind. He was there.

"Daryl?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "You were screamin', I heard it as I got closer."

"S-Sorry," she breathed out.

"I was so scared," he admitted, head hung as his cheeks flared up. "I thought maybe somethin' got in."

She shook her head as she tilted his chin up so he'd look at her. "It was just a nightmare."

He nodded. "I was strugglin' to wake ya."

"Yeah, it was pretty real," she sighed. "Even though it was too strange to be it still felt real."

"What was it about?"

She bit her lip, not knowing how to explain, because how do you? How do you tell the guy you're in some sort of relationship with that she dreamed about having sex with him _but_ _then_ he was replaced by your abusive ex-husband? There's not exactly a "how to" manual for that sort of thing.

"Nothing."

"We both know it's somethin'." He gave her a small smile. "But maybe you need to think about it some more?"

She gave a small smile and a little nod. He untangled himself from the sheets and shuffled up beside her. He sat next to her, both their backs against the headboard She bit her lip as he shuffled closer and his arm twitched. She could tell he wanted to do something but wasn't sure. Eventually he lifted his arm and wrapped it around her shoulders. She could feel how tense he was as she leaned into him but he kept his arm in place. The fact that he was going out of his comfort zone to make her feel better caused a flip to switch in her mind and suddenly she was crying, unable to stop it.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, voice breaking.

She opened her mouth to speak but she couldn't. She just shook her head and curled up against him. His body was no longer tense now as he watched her.

"Carol?" he whispered. "Tell me, please. I want to help."

"It was just a nightmare," she mumbled against his chest.

"So?" He made it sound like she'd just said the most stupid thing in the world, but then Daryl had a habit of doing that with most things. "It obviously had an effect on you."

"I was dreaming about us."

"Oh... Sorry," he mumbled, wishing he hadn't asked.

"No," she said quickly. "That part was good. Amazing in fact."

"Oh." She could just _hear_ the smile. "Then what happened?"

"We were... Well, we'd gotten to _that_ point..." She didn't want him to tense up again, he seemed so relaxed at the moment and she wanted to keep that. "You were asking me if you were hurting me," she smiled. "My eyes were closed and I told you that you weren't but..."

"But I did?"

She shook her head. "You sounded angry that you hadn't... Then when I opened my eyes it wasn't you."

He let out a breath, seemingly feeling better than he hadn't caused her any pain, real life or not. His fingers drew patterns on her arm. "Who was it then?"

"Ed."

His fingers stopped. "What happened when ya realised?"

"He was drunk." She sighed like it was nothing new, because well, when he was alive it wasn't. "I fought him, tried to get him off of me but he just laughed and held me down."

"Was it always like that?"

"Before Sophia it wasn't exactly enjoyable, not like it should be but it was bearable, y'know? It was all for his benefit but I just went with it," she explained. "Then Sophia was born and he just didn't like to look at me."

"So you stopped?"

"Oh, no," she laughed. "It just meant I couldn't be facing him while he was... Well."

Daryl suddenly felt guilty. Here she was telling him about how her dick of a husband liked to have sex with her and he struggled to tell her even the smallest of things. He felt bad that she opened up when he asked but he was just downright stubborn. Daryl knew that wasn't going to change so the only thing he could do was try to make her feel better, to help her realise that it was never going to be like that again.

Carefully he rolled them both over. She let out a slight yelp at the sudden move before she started to laugh. He was hovering over her, lifting his weight up so she wasn't trapped. She took a few breathes, eyes on him so that she could remember that it really was Daryl above her. As her breathing became more even she became happier, feeling some of what she felt in the first part of her dream. As her hands carefully trailled up his arms he leaned down and pecked her lips once. He was going to be careful for her sake and also because he didn't want to start something he was too scared to finish.

But she pulled him back to her and he smiled. He kissed her again, and again and again. Each one only lasting a few seconds with breaks in the middle. He tried not to think, and it was easy. After hearing how scared she seemed then seeing it, it made him forget how scared he was because he had to worry about her.

Carol's eyes closed slowly and he smiled at how peaceful she looked. But that look slowly faded. She cursed herself for such a stupid move. As her eyes closed something whirled in her vision. Suddenly it wasn't the back of her eyelids she was seeing but instead it was Ed. Hovering above her and laughing. Without thinking she lashed out, effectively hitting Daryl who tumbled off of the bed.

She shot up, eyes wide. "I'm so sorry."

He groaned as he stood, hand to his nose. There was some blood. Carol's hand came up to her mouth. Daryl looked unsure but then his mind caught up to him and suddenly he was just scared again. He stumbled a little as he left the room. She cursed as she scrambled to get off of the bed and pull on some decent clothing. She pulled on some jeans and as she pulled on a t-shirt she headed the direction Daryl had gone. He wasn't in the other room or the bathroom so she headed outside.

"Daryl!" She caught up with him just as he reached the bottom of the stairs outside thier front door.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"Why are you sorry?"

"Went too far," he shrugged.

"Oh, no." She carefully ran her fingers over the hand that wasn't covering his nose. "You did nothing wrong. I was stupid enough to close my eyes. It wasn't you I was fighting."

"He ain't here no more."

"I know," she agreed. "And I'm sorry. You honestly did nothing wrong. Is that why you ran off?"

"Couldn't bare to see you get upset 'cause of me," he shrugged.

"You only worried me," she smiled. "Please don't run off like that again."

"I'll try," he said after a minute.

She took his hand and led him away from their apartment. As they got closer to the fronts of the two houses she dropped his hand for appearance purposes. Everyone except for Merle were sat around the table. Breakfast was set up on the table. Michonne and Andrea had extra weapons on them which told Carol that they were the ones on watch and only moved away for their food. The others were all sat down at the table, eating and talking, as Daryl and Carol approached them.

No one looked up until Andrea caught sight of Daryl. "What happened to you?"

"Uh..."

"I didn't hear him come in," Carol supplied. "I got a fright."

"So you punched him?" Beth giggled.

Suddenly they were all smiling, some of them trying not to laugh. Daryl just shrugged, trying his hardest not to blush at the attention he was getting for his busted up nose.

"Where's the first aid kit?" Carol asked, mostly directed at Rick but still general enough.

"Our place," Hershel said. "We figured it was best to keep it with me until we get enough to split it between the house."

"Merle's too?" Daryl asked.

Rick nodded. "Yeah, of course he won't get as much as us because it's just him in the house, you and Carol will get the next biggest amount while the Greene and Grimes houses will get the biggest shares because there's more of us. Of course anything surgical will have to go with Hershel seen as he knows how to use it."

Daryl nodded his understanding while Carl offered to get the first aid kit and ran off. They all seemed to smile at that. For a while there they were afraid that Carl was going too far down that dark road to get back but with the war being won and the sense of security Carl could relax and he got his Dad back some. It seemed to be just what the boy needed because now he was helping and he had that sense of compassion that he lost.

Carol motioned for Daryl to sit as Carl handed her the first aid kit. He did, his back to the table so he was facing her. She opened up the kit and worked on sorting out what she wanted. She brought out some cloths and wiped the blood away carefully. She prodded carefully as more blood spilled out, it didn't feel broken but then she wasn't an expert. Carefully she put the cloth against it.

"I don't think it's broken," she told him. "But there's a big cut on the bridge of your nose..."

"It stopped bleedin' yet?"

She shook her head. "But I need to clean it... I'm not gonna lie to you, this might hurt."

He only nodded and closed his eyes before tipping his head back to get a better angle. She got the bottle out she was looking for. Luckily it had a spray top on it so she couldn't put on too much and cause him any unneeded pain. She carefully held it close enough and gave three short bursts. He cursed angrily and ground his teeth together as the sting hit. She wiped it carefully with the cloth again and held it there while she used her free hand to search for something suitable to cover it up with. Eventually she found a strip that she was sure was meant to be a band-aid Slowly she pulled the cloth away and as quickly as she could she applied the strip over the bridge of his nose.

She held her hands nearby as she waited to see if it would stay. She couldn't help but smile at the look on his face. It was scrunched up in pain and he was trying his hardest not to swear, she could just tell. When she saw no more blood she dropped her hands and stepped back. Slowly his eyes opened and he sat up a little straighter. Everyone was watching, still smiling but no longer laughing.

"It might not stay on so try to stay still for a while so the bleeding can stop," she told him. "If it doesn't heal up any on its own we may have to see to it again."

His face scrunched up slightly. "Stitches?"

She chuckled. "No, probably not, it doesn't look that deep or long."

"Butterfly stitches at the most," Hershel said from his spot. "You'll barely feel it."

"I'll get us some breakfast," Carol decided. "Stay here and don't move."

He rolled his eyes and only moved so that he could lean back against the table. She got two bowls from the end of the table and brought it back over to where Daryl sat. She stood in front of him and handed one towards him. He took it, sitting up a little straighter so he could eat properly. She stayed in front of him with her hand still on his bowl as his hand latched onto it.

"What happened to you?" Merle chuckled.

Both Carol and Daryl looked at Merle who was now standing next to them. "Nothing," Daryl mumbled.

"Well, I wouldn't say nothing," Glenn shrugged.

"Lying to me, huh?"

"No," Daryl shrugged.

"Just avoiding the truth," Rick smiled.

"It was a silly accident," Carol supplied.

"Well if you can call Carol's fist flying into Daryl's face a silly accident..." But Carl trailed off as Daryl glared at him.

"Got hit by a girl?" Merle sounded confused, pissed off and slightly amused all rolled into one. Confused because he couldn't understand how or why Carol had punched Daryl. Pissed off because Daryl was sat there like nothing happened, and well really no one laid a hand on his brother but him. And then amused because his so called brother got himself beat by a girl.

"It was an accident," Daryl shrugged.

"And you're cool wi- _Oh_." Suddenly a grin flashed on Merle's face and Daryl looked at him questioningly. Merle motioned to the fact that Carol and Daryl were still both holding onto his bowl of food. "I see why you ain't mad."

"Damn," Daryl groaned. "Would you drop that shit?"

"Drop what?" Carl asked curiously.

"Oh, nothing," Merle whistled. "Nothing at all."

As he walked away with his own bowl Daryl ripped off a piece of his toast and threw it at the back of his brother's head. Merle just laughed as he kept on walking. Carol slowly moved away from him and sat down, leaving quite a distinct gap between them, much to Daryl's disappointment. But when he caught the curious looks of the others he stopped any form of self-pity that was slowly rising in him.

* * *

"So..."

Carol was lost in her thoughts as she bounced Judith in her arms when Beth's voice broke through. "So?"

"You and Daryl?"

"What about me and Daryl?" she asked, focus completely on Judith.

"What's going on?" Beth questioned. "We've all been trying to work it out. Merle seems to think something's going on between the two of you, but then we're not sure we can trust Merle, maybe he's just teasing."

"That does sound like Merle," Carol agreed.

"But you and Daryl are real close," she observed. "So it's not totally out of line to assume..."

"There's nothing to assume," Carol sighed. "We're just friends."

"He trusts you... But it's more than that too."

"He's just comfortable is all," Carol shrugged. "Given the time he'd be this close with any of you."

"Maybe," Beth half-agreed. "It's not a bad thing by the way, I'd be happy for you."

"Would you?"

"Of course." She smiled widely. "You both deserve to be happy, and if anything is going on then... It's a long time coming."

Carol could feel herself start to blush ever so slightly so she busied herself with putting Judith down for a nap. "Well nothing is going on."

"Shame," Beth sighed. "Something new round here would be good."

"Maybe you should find somebody?" But she knew as soon as she said it it was stupid.

"Who?" Beth laughed. "Carl is a no, at least for now because that could ruin the only normalish friendship I have. Glenn is with my sister, Daryl is practically yours so that leaves Merle and Rick."

"Your Daddy would kill you."

"Don't I know it," Beth chuckled. "And even with the women it's slim pickings... No offence."

"Oh, none taken," Carol laughed. "I may be a woman but I'm sure your Daddy would still shoot me where I stood if I went near you like that."

"He'd shoot Carl for that." Beth rolled her eyes at how stupid it seemed. It made Carol smiled. The end of the world but a teenager still manages to hate the fact that their father is over-protective. Some things you just never want to get rid of.

They stayed silent after that so Judith could drift off and not be disturbed until she was in a deep enough sleep. Carol had time to think in those moments. Did people really suspect that things might be going on? Or that things could happen? She honestly thought it wasn't that obvious. Sure they teased each other and were together a lot but that's what friends did, right? Or maybe they didn't. Carol wasn't sure. Before the world went to shit her only friend was Sophia, not that she minded, it was great but the last time she had a friend her own age was at least five years before Sophia was born, maybe before that. Sure she had friends now, she had a family, but did she really know if the way she was acting in front of the group was friends material or not? Now she was just confused. Maybe it had been obvious and she didn't realise. Maybe it wasn't just Daryl who needed this new relationship of theirs to go slowly, maybe she needed it too.

* * *

**A/N: **_aw, you guys and your interest in this story! let me love you, I'm definitely continuing this on for as long as it takes, this chapter just didn't want to get written, but in the end I got this. But yeah, I love you guys for the interest, keep it coming - good, bad (if it's constructive) and even just questions that you may have. :)_

_R&R_


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **_You guys are still blowing me away with reviews, I appreciate every single one of you so much and I take on board all your feedback. Even the bad ones if they're something I can work on. I'm trying to keep the chapters at a reasonable length and not rush them which means updates can't be daily but this will get updated no matter what. It was meant to be before now, but I'm trying to get a grip on updating a little quicker._

_As for this chapter, Daryl has moments when he comes across as quite confident. I re-watched some clips from the Walking Dead and I noticed that Daryl can be confident if __he is the one initiating something or if the topic is something he is good with. So please keep that in mind when you read this chapter._

* * *

It was getting hotter, the sun was much brighter than it had been and everyone was little more sluggish There were a few shared words about Carol punching Daryl and how they'd both handled the situation but soon that dwindled until everyone was either enjoying the sun or trying to avoid it. Carol was in the half that decided to avoid it. She busied herself with laundry. Even if there wasn't many from the older members of the group there was definitely a ton from Judith. She was always getting something on her clothes which meant at least three items of clothing were in the laundry pile each time. Carol didn't mind, no one did, they all agreed that Judith came first. No one argued, not even Carl who seemed the happiest about the decision. If they were low on clean clothes, food, water or any other essentials Judith would get it first. It just didn't sit well with them to have a dirty, malnourished baby so she was automatically top priority on their list. It didn't matter if they were all starving.

As she thought about these silent agreements Carol placed the wet clothes in the basket. Between the two houses, and just behind her garage/apartment there was a small patch of grass. An old clothes line hung there so she set about hanging up the wet clothes. Despite the houses that surrounded it the sun still hit it, and with the lesser heat there was a slight breeze around this area. Both would help to get the clothes dried quicker. She was so involved with what she was doing that she was unaware that Daryl was stood watching her. She hummed quietly to herself. She'd gotten so used to it after looking after Judith so much. The little girl seemed to prefer Beth's singing but a few notes or so from Carol had her drifting off to sleep a little easier. It just became second nature while she was working or found herself with nothing to do. Daryl didn't complain either. He'd noticed a few times but never brought it up. He'd always just listen as he watched her.

"Oh!" Carol squeaked as she turned around and saw him standing there.

"I didn't mean to scare ya."

"I know." But she had to concentrate on her breathing in order to slow it. "You're just too damn quiet sometimes."

He smiled a little at that. "It comes in handy."

"For sneaking up on people?"

"Only you," he shrugged. "Especially if I'm going to get that reaction each time."

She grabbed one of the remaining clothes pegs and threw it at his head. "It wasn't funny."

"Sure it was." He threw the peg up and down as a grin formed. "That girlish 'oh' you gave and the way you jumped 'bout a foot off the ground."

"Oh now that's exaggerating," she mumbled as she walked passed him to leave the small yard.

"Not from where I was standing," he called as he followed her.

She only stuck her middle finger up at him as a response. He really had rubbed off on her, never in a million years would she make a gesture like that to anyone at any time but it was Daryl so she felt like she could. He only chuckled. Typical. She knew if she'd done that to anyone else they'd think she was serious and it would probably entail fights, but with Daryl he knew that it was her way of saying "you suck" in his own language.

She sat down at the table, the basket on one side and then when he caught up, Daryl on the other side of her. She fiddled with her thumbs, she had no real idea as to why she had come here. Really she should've gone up to the house so that she could empty the water she'd used to do laundry but now that she'd sat down she really didn't want to get up. _Wouldn't that make me look stupid?_ she thought to herself. Daryl didn't seem to mind the lack of things to do, he just removed his knife and played with it carefully. It did make her smile slightly. She found it to be a positive thing that he could sit comfortably with her in silence. It proved they weren't completely at square one.

After a while the others filed out. It would be dinner soon and everyone decided it would be more practical to sit out in the sun rather than sit cramped in the houses where things would probably get just as hot. Food had already been prepared so a few people set about serving it. Carol placed the basket near the end of the table before sitting back down. She noted that now Beth was sat on her other side the space she was in was a lot smaller causing her to brush up against both of them. Beth was no issue, she was used to being that close with looking after Judith together and all. But with Daryl it was different. She wasn't used to this much constant contact with Daryl, it felt strange to her and it didn't help that her body was on fire, but he didn't seem phased. He wasn't tense or anything, and she was sure that he shuffled closer to make her space just that little bit smaller.

When her food was set down in front of her, Carol was able to focus on something else. She concentrated on every bite, chew and flavour. And it was going well until Daryl decided he needed some sauce. They'd managed to find some in-date mayonnaise There was a back up generator connected to the big fridge at a restaurant so the mayo stayed in tact which made it edible. So salad had been a big go to for dinner. They could grow some things where they were so it was like a near endless supply.

Daryl placed his hand on Carol's knee. She jumped slightly but managed to keep her composure. He leaned across the table as if reaching for the mayo while all the time applying pressure to Carol's knee. As he leaned over a little more his hand slid a little further up her leg and he squeezed slightly. _He decides to get some confidence now? _she thought irritably.

"Hey, Glenn," Daryl finally called out when he really couldn't reach. "Slide the mayo over."

"Don't your legs work?" Glenn asked, but slid it over anyway.

"Thanks," he said, ignoring Glenn's question as he grabbed the bottle and gave Carol's leg another squeeze.

She glared at him as he sat back normally. She quietly fanned her face, thankful for the horrible heat they'd had all day that could make the act look less odd. Daryl sat beside her, applying the mayo to his food like nothing had ever happened. Well, two could play at that game, and even with his random confidence streak she was more confident than he was at this sort of thing.

Carefully, so not to draw attention to them, Carol placed her hand on his knee. He flinched but when he realised it was her he relaxed She waited, she wanted revenge but she wasn't that cruel. Carefully she ran her hand up his leg, pausing every time he tensed. As she got closer to the top of his leg he tensed even more, but as a quiet moan escaped him she realised he wasn't tense because he was uncomfortable but more so to keep quiet. She grinned as he glared at her. She kept her hand on his thigh, about midway and squeezed. She wasn't about to push him too far but she wanted him to suffer like she had just done. Another moan escaped, this time louder and she pulled her hand away to stifle a giggle.

"Great food," Daryl mumbled to the intrigued group.

"Well I didn't think it was _that _good," Andrea said, smile playing on her lips. "But it is the best we've had in a long time."

"Exactly," he nodded before dropping his head.

"You're forgetting that I fight back now," Carol whispered.

"What makes you think I wasn't expecting it?" he whispered back.

She tried not to let her mouth hang open. She never considered that he'd done that to her so that she would do the same thing back. Daryl avoided contact until he got used to it, but then that meant he'd never ask up front. Maybe this was his way of asking.

"Were you?"

He shrugged. "I wasn't expecting that exactly, but I was expecting somethin'."

"I like it when you squirm," she shrugged.

He bit his lip as a laugh threaten to rip out. Any other person said it and he would've claimed it as a threat, a negative meaning behind it, but with her it was different. The way his stomach tighten but that new sense of heat that washed over him told him so. He was used to their little games, he could read her like a book now so he no longer got frightened, maybe awkward and sometimes he was in denial but he never got frightened with her.

"I know I'm new to this," he said slowly. "But isn't it _my_ job to make _you_ squirm?"

"You're getting too confident." She tried to tease but she was already blushing and her voice came out a little breathless.

"Blame yourself for that."

She shook her head in wonder as he went straight back to eating, again like nothing had happened. It amazed her that he could do that so easily. Part of her was thrilled that he was confident when he was the one initiating, part of her was a little fidgety at the concept of being turned on then essentially hitting a brick wall and the last part of her was frustrated that Daryl seemed like normal.

As soon as her plate was empty she was up in a flash. She grabbed up the plates and cutlery, saying she'd use the water up in her apartment to wash them. No one argued, thankful not to have to do the job. She pilled it all up in the washing basket and fled up the stairs.

* * *

Hours passed. After washing the dishes Carol had sat back, her back against the couch. She got lost in her thoughts and by time she even thought to get up off of the floor and moved the dishes that were laid out on a towel it was dark out. She realised then that Daryl wasn't back. She tried not to panic as she made sure the dishes were packed away. She considered getting the clothes from outside but even with the safety of the fences she didn't feel safe being out in the dark on her own unless she was on one of the high vantage points.

So instead she read some of her book, laid down for a bit and re-organised the kitchen. In the end she was still worried that Daryl hadn't come back. She paced for what felt like forever, and she really did consider grabbing up one of the guns and heading out to search for him. It made her stomach turn to think of all the things that could happen to him out there. The dark could still be their enemy even with the secure fences they had.

Suddenly the door creaked open and her head snapped over to see Daryl walk in. He unclipped his belt that had his knife and gun on. He went straight to the bedroom and came back out without the belt. He stopped when he saw her standing there. Her hands on her hips and an angry look on her face.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"Where have you been?" She kept her voice calm and tried not to let it show how scared she'd been.

"I was on watch for a while," he explained slowly. "Rick wanted to make sure Lil Asskicker went down OK so I said I'd do watch for a few hours then he relieved me."

"Oh." She hadn't considered the possibility that he could be on watch. She had no real idea as to when his watches were and everyone always swapped but still she never considered it. She only thought about him not being there and it worried her to no end.

"Were you worried?" he grinned.

"Well, it's late!" She was a little more than flustered.

"You were." He plopped down on the couch and smiled up at her.

She let out a small noise, halfway between a groan and a sigh as she sat down beside him. Her leg crossed over the other has her hands rested in her lap. She kept quiet, not wanting him to get the sanctification that he seemed to be dwelling in. He seemed happy that she was worried, she could just see his ego growing at an alarming rate. But she couldn't stay too upset. He was safe like she wanted and that smile was infectious. So she reached out and took hold of hid hand. She made sure to hold it lightly so that he could pull away.

"I was worried," she explained. "Is this OK?"

He only grunted so she took that as a "yes". Her hand tightened on his ever so slightly and the two of them sat there in silence. Her head fell back as she dozed off, but the force only made her head snap forward and her eyes to open wide. As her eyes started to close again she felt a hand on her, guiding her head to the side until it was resting on Daryl's shoulder. He let go of the hand he was holding and wrapped his arm around her. She smiled when it only took him a couple of seconds to relax into her touch. But that was soon shattered.

"I'm going out tomorrow."

"Why?" Her eyes stayed closed as she frowned.

"Rick wants to check those escape routes out," he explained. "Might be gone for a few days, wants to get them all seen to and sorted as soon as."

"A few days?" she asked, sitting up, wide awake now.

He nodded. "Yeah... What's the problem? I go on hunting trips for that amount of time sometimes."

"You can't go," she said desperately, a little bit of anger seeping in.

He suddenly looked angry as he pushed away from her and stood up, body rigid with anger. "Well, it's not like you have much of a say is it?"

"You still can't go," she said firmly. "God knows what's on those roads!"

"_Wait_." He sat back down, stunned. "You're angry because I could get hurt?"

"Well, yes." She was a little stunned herself, wasn't that obvious? "Sure someone else could go, your skills would serve better here to be honest and sure I'd miss you and probably be a nervous wreck on the inside until you got back but I'm angry because you're going into something blind, that's dangerous, anything could happen to you."

"It won't," he assured. "We're taking it slow, that's why it may take a few days. We're leaving at the first sign of trouble. We're only checking routes that lead to somewhere that could prove useful or roads we know will be clear because there was little to no civilisation there before the world went to hell."

"I still don't like it," she whispered.

She stood up, hoping to get away. She'd always worried about him but this was different. The idea that he could get hurt didn't sit well with her, it made her sick, it made her feel ill. And the idea of him not coming back made her shake already and he wasn't even gone yet. It was like everything she felt about him had been multiplied. She'd felt that kind of worry and pain with Sophia and she didn't want to go through that with Daryl. She didn't want to loose him too. So her idea was to flee to the bedroom where she could curl up in bed and fall asleep, but Daryl stood up too and caught her elbow. He pulled her to him and wrapped an arm loosely around her waist.

"You'd miss me?"

She stared at him, open mouthed. From all of that that was what he choose to discuss? "Well... Yes. Everyone has someone in this group, I don't have anyone, you're the closest."

"There's plenty of people."

"Not really," she shrugged. "There's the Greene family, Glenn fits in with them too. The Grimes family. Michonne and Andrea. There's you and Merle. Then there's me."

"I care about my brother," he sighed. "But if anyone was the lone wolf I'd go with him."

She smiled. "Not when push comes to shove."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," he said confidently. "I'd never want to pick between you and Merle but you're probably the only person in this group who could win hands down in my eyes."

"He's blood," she whispered. An argument Daryl had constantly made.

"You might as well be." He noted that his arm tightened around her slightly, drawing her in closer. "There's plenty of people who are like family without being blood. Best friends, adopted family members, marriage..." He let the last one hang in the air as he blushed.

She felt herself blush a little too. "Which one do I fall under?"

"Well I don't think my family adopted you." He gave a nervous smile. "And best friends don't seem like enough, does it?"

"You've left yourself with marriage," she said quietly.

"You date someone before that," he said nervously. "So, it's not that far fetched."

She smiled at his awkwardness. In no way was she suggesting they get married but it was nice to know his opinion, and that wasn't really a no. She took a slight step back to give him space, wanting to make the conversation more light hearted. "I lied, I wasn't worried when you didn't come home." He looked at her curiously, trying to guess in his mind what she might say next. "I was angry, thought now that Glenn and Maggie couldn't be together on watches there would be some frustration. Thought that... _Glenn_, might need a back up to keep him satisfied, and well you guys always seemed to get along..."

Daryl choked slightly as he laughed and let out a startled noise at the same time. From the way he shook his head and a small smile played on his lips she knew she hadn't done anything wrong. "I wondered where ya were goin' with that," he sighed, his breathing deep. "And no, I was definitely just on watch. Only you I want."

She was surprised by how bold he was being with the last statement. "Maybe one day I'll let you prove it to me."

She made it sound like she was the one stopping him from showing her how much he wanted her. She considered asking him to prove it but she could just imagine how frustrated he would get with himself when he chickened out due to nerves, and she didn't want to make it seem like she expected anything from him. He gave her a small, thankful smile as he rubbed her lower back and kissed her for a brief moment. Lips lingering close to hers when the kiss broke. She could feel his breath and it made her lips tingle but then he'd pulled away and she tried only to smile.

* * *

_R&R_


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **_I was asked about adding Meth into this story, I really do like that pairing but I'm not sure if I'll be able to add them in properly. However, I will add in little moments here and there when Daryl and/or Carol are with the group so that if I do go in that direction I can, or if I do a separate story for Meth then I'll have some ground work already laid out. As for this chapter, it doesn't focus on Daryl and Carol directly but you get to see how Carol copes without Daryl there, plus I wanted some drama in this story that doesn't directly link with Carol and Daryl's relationship._

* * *

_Nope, wrong, stupid, the completely wrong decision_ were all the things Carol thought as the second night Daryl was gone hit. He, Rick and Maggie had gone out to scour the routes the morning after he had told her. Now was the second night he was gone and she didn't like it one bit. She didn't want to be selfish and ask him to stay, that would probably do more harm than good. And she couldn't voice her problems because she wasn't the only one suffering. Glenn, Hershel and Beth had Maggie out there, Carl and Judith had Rick out there, and Merle had his brother out there. If anything she shouldn't appear in the same level of distress as them. Daryl and her were only supposed to be friends after all. But she missed him and her mind was going crazy not knowing. She cursed herself angrily, multiple times, for not even thinking of volunteering herself for the trip. But they were only checking out some routes and possibly scouting some places they could run to. Things couldn't go wrong, right?

But as the third night hit, and then the fourth she started to wonder if maybe something had gone wrong. Daryl had said it could take a while because they wanted to get it all done but this long? It didn't help that Glenn and Carl said they didn't spot them when they drove a few miles in search for more baby formula. Carol didn't know whether to pray or curse that Judith was still on formula, on one side she knew what direction they weren't in but on the other hand she worried that they hadn't been spotted because there was nothing left of them to spot. And those negative thoughts didn't stop. Carol was torn between acting like the distressed girlfriend and hoping someone would comfort her or continuing to keep it all bottled up inside. She just wanted Daryl back. The way her stomach constantly tightened, the way her heart rate stayed at a higher beat and the way she was always on edge just screamed to her that something bad had happened. Maybe it was just because this time was different. On the other runs she could worry about Daryl, about anyone who went, and it wouldn't seem odd because she knew they were a family but now Daryl was something a lot more to her. She was allowed to admit it to herself, so maybe, _maybe_, she was worrying like this because now she was allowed to, she had that right.

"Guys!" Glenn screamed from his post on watch. "Help!"

Michonne was the first to notice, she was walking the perimeter after taking over from Andrea. Carol, Carl, Andrea and Merle all stopped what they were doing to run over to where Glenn was. Beth reluctantly stayed behind with her Dad and Judith, going on her tip toes to see if she could see from where they stood.

"What's wrong?" Andrea called as they reached the bottom of the high vantage post.

"Over there," Glenn said pointing in the distance.

Carol pushed passed them to stand against the inner fence. Her hand gripped it tightly when she spotted two figures limping towards them. Two? That was bad, right? She ran it over in her mind a million times as to why there was only two of them and why the hell there was no car. She quickly moved to one of the gates they had created around the fence. They all followed her through as she pushed through the next fence to get out in the open. She wasn't thinking, she couldn't have been because she had no weapon on her and there was no way to tell if those two figures were their people or something far more dangerous.

"Who's there?" Andrea yelled.

"I think it's them," Glenn called. "They don't look good."

Carol took off in a run, the others following behind, luckily they were all carrying weapons except for her and Carl. But as they got closer they realised they didn't need them. Maggie was limping, leaning on Rick for support who looked equally tired. They were covered head to toe in blood and God knows what else. They looked like they had been through the ringer. Carol's heart almost stopped when she realised some of the blood was dry meaning it must have happened a while ago.

"What happened?" she questioned.

"Where's my brother?" Merle demanded.

"We need to get Maggie to her Dad," Rick wheezed. "She got hurt, please, then I'll explain everything."

Ignoring her protests, and in an attempt to find out more about his brother Merle scooped her up and carried her back inside, Carl going ahead to open the gates for him. Michonne and Andrea both helped Rick get through leaving Carol at the back. She absently closed the gates as her whole system seemed to shut down. She could faintly hear the commotion from everyone, them all fussing and demanding answers.

"I don't know what happened," Rick admitted. "We had enough fuel to get us through then suddenly we didn't. We ran out a couple of days ago so we pushed the car and hid it as best as we could before looking for some fuel. I swear we didn't hear them."

"They came out of nowhere," Maggie gasped as her father prodded the wound on her side. "At least fifteen of those creeps. We managed to fight them off but then we got held up. We still needed fuel. I got hurt and more of those things showed up so Daryl told us to leave, that he'd keep looking. We promised to come back for him."

"How did you get hurt?" Glenn demanded.

"We had to get out of a narrow window, I caught my side on a big piece of broken glass when one of those things grabbed my foot," she explained. "I twisted my ankle when I fell out. At least I think it's just twisted."

"I think it is," Hershel nodded.

"When did this happen?" Merle inquired.

"Yesterday," Rick mumbled. "With Maggie's ankle and hiding from walkers every so often, it took a lot longer than we thought it would."

"So you're tellin' me my brother has been out there for a day?" Merle yelled. "Maybe longer?"

"Let's ignore the fact she's my daughter," Hershel said sternly. "With that cut on her side and the ankle there was no way they could've gotten here any quicker. I promise you that."

Carol suddenly came back to her senses, she needed to, Daryl needed her right now. "He's right, and Daryl would've been the best person to stay behind."

"Run that by me again?" Merle growled at her.

Much to everyone's surprise Beth reached out and placed a hand on Merle's arm. "I think she means that he was best because he's able. He can hunt, fight, track and God knows what else. He's a survivor. Maggie with her wounds would have been useless and Rick is no match to your brother."

An even bigger surprise was that Merle calmed down ever so slightly. "Thanks, darlin'," he mumbled. "But I still don't like how long he's been out there."

"Then we'll go look for him," Carol promised. "Me and you. Who else wants to come along?"

"If he didn't stay Maggie might have had to," Glenn sighed. "I'm going."

Rick went to speak but Hershel interrupted, becoming the voice of reasoning. "Rick and Maggie need to stay. And Beth I know that look, you're staying here, so are you Carl. I need you both to help me with our two patients and little Judith. I'd prefer that both Andrea and Michonne stay but if one wants to go then it makes sense."

"I think we should both stay," Andrea spoke up. "The three of them will be fine, and when they get Daryl that'll be an extra person. If we both stay here then that's two more people to keep an eye on this place."

* * *

Carol couldn't help but drum her fingers as she scanned the area outside of her window. She took one side from the backseat while Merle looked at the other side from the front. Glenn drove, concentrating on driving but also looking to see if he could spot Daryl anywhere in the distance. But after driving for a good hour they came up empty. Between the three of them they worked it out on the map. It had taken Maggie and Rick about a day to walk back but they were injured so they subtracted those estimated hours. They converted it as best as they could into how long it would take if they drove. Rick had told them the route they took and what town (and roughly where in that town) they had left Daryl. Removing his focus from the outside Merle worked out the amount of hours it would take them in a car to get to the town then worked out the maximum and minimum hours that Daryl could've traveled if he found fuel.

"OK," he said gruffly. "We've been driving for a good two hours or so, right?"

"Yeah," Glenn nodded. "Should take us another two to get to edge of town, not even that, this is our best car."

"They scoured the town for fuel but came up empty," he continued. Glenn at this point pulled the car over to listen. "He probably tried the next town, stopping at any car he passed."

"I saw signs for the first town," Carol said. "It's a few miles from here."

"I say he would've gone there," Merle explained. "Would've taken him an hour to get there if he was going at a reasonable speed. Factor in a couple of hours to recheck the town he started in and for him to fight off any walkers."

"That sounds right, yeah," both Carol and Glenn agreed.

"So that's what? Three hours since officer friendly and the farmer's daughter left," Merle went on. "Add in another two hours for him to check the town coming up thoroughly that bunks it up to five, then another hour for him to take the fuel back to the car."

"We don't know where the car is or how much trouble he got into," Glenn reminded.

"Fine, factor in another hour," he ground out. "That's about seven hours."

"Where would he go then?" Carol asked.

"He'd be driving this way, heading back here," Merle sighed.

"But he would've passed us," she whispered.

"Exactly." He looked at Carol in the rear view mirror. Worry and anger sketched upon his face. If Daryl had done all that then he would've passed them long before now but they hadn't meaning he hadn't gotten the fuel. "So either he did get it but there's something between now and that first town. Or he didn't and had to escape on foot."

"So we drive," Carol urged. "And we see if there is anything that would make it hard to stop him from driving this way."

"Alright, mouse," Merle smirked. "Then what do we do if there is nothing blocking the way?"

"If there's something then he took the car another way, a couple of other routes they tested lead onto this road, Rick and Maggie said one of them was a bust, too many abandoned cars, awkward to get around so we know which one he would have taken." She took a deep breath, feeling herself get worked up. "If there isn't something then we look for the car-"

"Rick and Maggie weren't very clear on where it was," Glenn interrupted.

"They gave us a rough estimate," Carol argued. "With a tracker on our side we'll find it. If it's not there then we assume he took another route anyway, if it is then hopefully we can see where he went from there. They took supplies so Daryl probably went there to pick some things before he had to run."

"He's got a big head start on us," Merle pointed out. "Even with that seven or so hours wasted on looking for fuel."

"You were the one who was determined to get him back," Carol said angrily. "Now shut up and let's get going before there's nothing to find."

That snapped Merle into a more serious manner. He looked sternly ahead as Glenn quickly got the car going again. They drove, now focusing straight ahead but the town came into view and they didn't run into anything that could've forced Daryl to go the other way. Carol felt her stomach drop but she was determined. They moved through the town, Glenn continuing to drive the car at a slow speed while Carol and Merle checked the buildings on either side. They checked anywhere fuel might have been and couldn't find him. They drove onto the next town, scanning the area as they went. When they reached the town they checked every inch. With the three of them it only took an hour, not even that with the speed they were going. Eventually they found the car.

"What's wrong?" Carol asked.

Merle kicked the tire angrily. "Everything they took is still here. A few bottles of water and a bit of food is missing but that makes up for the days they've been gone. It's hard to tell if there's more gone that what they might've used."

"Merle concentrate," Carol begged. "Can you tell which way he went?"

He stood up, walking around the car a couple of times, dropping down to examine the ground, before he veered off down the slope that went off of the side of the road. He went through the grass, heading towards the tree line before he circled back and came to the car. Carol had been hopefully but for some reason if Daryl went that way he had turned back. Merle crossed the road and went down a side alley. He climbed up onto a dustbin and onto the roof of a small store. Carol felt hope again until he jumped back off the roof. He walked back towards them, but this time not in a straight line. He stopped a few steps away from the car.

"He's injured I think."

Carol felt her stomach tighten violently, and she suddenly felt the urge to throw up. "You think?"

"He wasn't walking straight so unless he was drunk, and…" He dropped down and ran a finger over the pavement. "Blood droplets."

"But there's not that much there," Glenn said, trying to sound reassuring. "So he's fine, right?"

"It leads over to the car." Merle pointed out the drops as he walked. "But yeah, it don't look that bad. Depends what caused it."

Carol was acting before her brain had time to catch up. She beat her fists against his chest, trying to get all the anger out. How could he just say it like that? Didn't he care? For once his life couldn't he show an ounce of upset? Another emotion apart from amusement and anger? Didn't Daryl deserve that?

"You're the one who was angry that they left him here!" she yelled. "And now what? You've given up?"

"I'm just facing the facts as calmly as I can," he ground out. "When I have more evidence then I'll decide how I react to this."

"At least he's not flying off the handle," Glenn admitted. "We need Merle, Carol."

But the three of them were tired and equally worried so Carol gave her angry look as she kicked Merle's leg, and his anger flared up from the possibility that his brother could be dead and the fact that he had just been kicked in the shin by a woman. Glenn _was_ calm until they started glaring at each other and he became angry. They were getting off topic again and he certainly did not want to be a babysitter. But they were all shocked out of there angry emotions when they heard banging.

Spinning round Carol gasped but couldn't help but grin. Sitting on a roof a couple of buildings away, in a deck chair no doubt, was Daryl. He had his crossbow leaning against the side of the chair, legs propped up, as he played with his knife. He looked rough. Dirty, red littering his body and barely holding himself up straight in the chair.

"Well, ya'll gonna come help me or not?" he yelled.

* * *

_R&R_


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **_As always I love you guys and the support you provide. I can't believe the amount of reviews, follows and favourites I've gotten and this is only the sixth chapter. Thank you once again for reading this! A small note, I'm not that good with medical stuff but I researched, used my knowledge of tv shows/movies and used some common sense (sort of) as best as I could so sorry for any mistakes in this chapter._

* * *

Carol was the first to run in his direction, not even bothering to look around for walkers. She could faintly hear both Merle and Glenn curse (Merle more explicit) before they too started to run. She reached there first and studied the building with confusion. The doors and windows were all sealed, she figured Daryl had sealed the door seen as it looked to be more of a hurried job than the rest and more of a quick fix. Merle seemed to notice the same thing because he looked up in the general direction of the roof and smirked. Glenn just looked confused as he studied the building, more than likely trying to work out a way to get to Daryl just like Carol was trying to do.

"So…" He said after a moment. "What do we do?"

Merle rolled his eyes before moving to the alley at the side of the building. Minutes later he reappeared, his good hand dragging a dumpster behind him. Getting the hint, Glenn ran to the other side to help push the dumpster. Soon they got it under one of the second story windows. Merle climbed on top of the closed dumpster and reached up to the window ledge of the second floor. He tried to pull himself up and even used the first story window but with the lack of a second hand he slipped back onto the dumpster. Without a second thought Carol climbed onto the dumpster.

"Glenn, keep an eye out for anything," she ordered. "Merle, put me on your shoulders."

"Now, why would I do that?" he asked.

"So I can reach the window better and get onto the roof."

"And then what do you plan to do?"

"Help Daryl over to the edge," she said, keeping eye contact the whole time. "Then I'll help him to lower himself down where you'll be waiting to catch him."

Merle only responded by crouching down, allowing for Carol to shakily climb onto his shoulder. As soon as she was situated he stood up immediately, causing her to almost fall backwards off of him. She considered kicking him or squeezing her legs together so that his head turned to pulp but she knew that would probably end up bad for her, not him. So she ignored it and gripped the windowsill. She stood on Merle's shoulders and with all the upper body strength she could muster she hoisted herself up, successfully resting a knee on the windowsill and bringing the other up. As quickly as she could she reached up to hold onto the guttering above her as she carefully got to her feet. She thanked the heavens that two story or not Daryl had picked a relatively small building. She took a moment to catch her breath and tried not to think about how small the windowsill felt under her feet. She pushed pass it as best as she could as she pulled herself up.

"Please don't break," she begged quietly, feeling the gutter bend ever so slightly.

She placed her toes on the little bit that jutted out at the top of the window. She managed to place her hands on the roof, just above the gutter. She tried to muster up more strength as she pulled herself up, hooking her arms over the edge as she pulled herself up and onto the roof. She got to her hands and knees first before standing up all the way. She brushed herself off, buying her some time, before she looked over at Daryl. He was grinning at her, but before she could smile back she felt her legs go numb under her and she fell down onto the rooftop.

"Carol!"

"What's going on?" Glenn yelled from the ground.

"I'm fine," she assured, sitting up. "Used more strength than I thought getting up here."

"Yeah well that was fuckin' stupid."

"Hey, Dixon," she snapped, pointing a finger at him. "I'm here to save your ass."

"Well it looks like I might have to save your ass at this rate."

She wanted so bad to argue but the sight of him crouched near her scared her. In his worry for her he had darted across the small space between them, ignoring his injuries as he did. She pushed him back so he was sitting. He watched her curiously, any trace of anger or upset gone.

"What happened to you?" she asked quietly.

"Think I dislocated my shoulder," he mumbled.

She instantly snapped her eyes between the two, deciding that it was the right shoulder. She withdrew her knife and tried as carefully as possible to cut the material away. This close she could smell alcohol, she guessed it was probably to help with any pain, to keep his mind off of it. The occasional hiss and swear word he let out told her that she wasn't doing a very good job at being careful but it needed to be done. She studied the shoulder, cursing the fact that she really couldn't do anything. She could pop it back into place but she'd never done it before and that could prove more harm than good. So instead she stood and helped him to stand too. She then placed his good arm around her shoulders and helped him over to the edge of the roof. He sat down, his legs dangling over the edge.

"Are you guys OK?" Glenn called.

Carol stuck her head over the edge. "Yeah, just needed a little sit down."

"What'd you do, little brother?" Merle smirked.

"Nothin'," he mumbled.

"His shoulder is dislocated," Carol explained.

"Can you lower yourself down any?" Merle asked.

"Course I can," Daryl grumbled.

Carol went to argue but Daryl was already moving. He gripped the edge roof tightly with his good hand and slid off the roof sideways, only just managing to swing round enough to place his feet on the windowsill and allowing his hand to drop to the top of the window for support. Carol watched, gritting her teeth at the sight. She almost flung herself over the edge when she saw him slip, but before she was even able to move Merle caught him and both men fell onto the dumpster. She sighed with relief before moving back across the roof. She got the bag of supplies Daryl had used along with his crossbow. She lowered both of them down to Glenn's waiting arms before she lowered herself into Merle's.

"I'll get the car," Glenn decided.

"I didn't find any fuel," Daryl explained.

"We brought extra just in case," he smiled. "I'll fill up the car."

"It's just over there," Daryl complained. "I can walk."

"You've probably put enough strain on that arm," Carol sighed. "So from this moment on you're resting."

"She's bossy, your woman," Merle commented as he jumped off the dumpster. "I'll get the fuel and put it in the car. Glenn can bring the car we brought over."

Both men headed towards the car, as soon as they were out of ears shot Carol threw her arms around Daryl, careful of his bad shoulder. He tensed but in a matter of seconds he was calm and wrapping his good arm around her. But his nervousness got the better of him and he pulled away, looking over at where Merle and Glenn had disappeared.

"Sorry," she whispered. "It just kind of hit me how worried I really was."

"Takes a lot to kill me," he mumbled.

"Yes well, that means there's still _something_ out there that could."

* * *

"So," Glen started carefully. "Run by us again what happened?"

"I told y'all," Daryl mumbled.

"No," he argued. "You rushed the story so that Merle would shut up and get in the other car."

He looked to Carol for help but she just grinned, wanting the proper story herself. "Fine," he growled. "Rick and Maggie left so I looked for fuel just like you guys guessed. I was surprised I hadn't run into many of those things and as I went to hide out in the woods I heard them moaning in the trees so I turned around, realising that I wasn't safe in the woods."

"The blood Merle found?" Carol questioned.

He motioned to the walker blood on him. "At that point it hadn't all dried, most likely theirs. Could've been Maggie's from her side though, we parted ways at the car. We looked for cars as well as fuel but then she got hurt so we couldn't waste time."

"What did you do exactly after they left?" Glenn asked curiously.

"Checked further into the town," he half-shrugged. "The opposite direction."

"So after the woods weren't safe," Carol said, prompting him to go on.

"I searched and suddenly walkers started to come out of the trees," he explained. "I saw Merle climb onto that dumpster a few buildings away, that's exactly what I did, but before I could get on the roof one of them grabbed my foot, when I kicked out I lost my footin' and fell, landed on my shoulder wrong."

"And you managed to slip away and hold up in that building," Carol nodded. "Worked your way through it and got onto the roof."

"Only one walker in there, distracted, easy enough to take down."

"Well, no more fighting walkers for as long as we can help it," Carol decided.

"Yeah, try and stop me," he mumbled.

But she only flashed him a grin as they finally arrived back, telling that she would have no problem with stopping him. Glenn came round as Rick and Andrea came to the fence. Rick helped Glenn with Daryl while Andrea, Carol and Merle brought in all the supplies they'd taken with them, Carol stopping to close the gates.

"What happened?" Rick asked as they got closer to the others.

"Some of those bastards are pretty good at sneakin' up on people," Daryl grumbled.

"They did that?" Hershel questioned, pointing at his shoulder.

"No." He shook his head and sat down at the table. "But they caused me to loose my footing and fall."

"He weren't this clumsy before he met y'all," Merle commented, dropping into a chair nearby.

Everyone ignored him as Hershel sat in the chair beside Daryl and started to examine his shoulder. "It might be easy enough to fix."

"_Might?_" Daryl squeaked before quickly regaining his well known scowl. "What's that mean?"

"It's at the front," Hershel explained. "It's the most common _but_ you normally get scans and such to see if there's any other damage before we continue."

"And we can't do that."

"No... But if you're willing to trust a couple of people then we'll do it on your word."

"Well I can't go round like this," Daryl sighed. "Who you got in mind?"

"I need someone to hold you down, this could get painful, I was thinking Merle." Both Dixon brothers gave a slight nod. "And I need someone able to move the arm back into place. I was thinking Michonne or Rick."

"Michonne," Daryl said quickly. "You're ruthless Rick but there's no chance of Michonne stopping until it's done."

When they were all in agreement they moved to get into their appropriate positions. Merle pulled his chair up behind his brother's. He removed his apparatus before putting that arm around Daryl's middle. He then brought his arm under Daryl's left shoulder and gripped the shoulder with his hand in order to hold him down if need be. Michonne moved to Daryl's right side to await Hershel's orders who sat in front of the trio. The others all stood nearby except for Maggie and Beth who both sat, Maggie because of her ankle and Beth because she held Judith. They all watched while trying to give as much space as possible.

"Now, Daryl you can have your arm straight down, bent at the elbow or drawn into your chest," Hershel explained. "But bear in mind it'll need to be bent at a 90% angle."

Daryl let his arm hang straight down, too afraid to move it but not willing to admit it. "I'll let you do all the work," he told Michonne.

"She wouldn't need to if you had done it yourself," Merle drawled. "Why didn't ya?"

"Tried, didn't work," Daryl half-shrugged. "Couldn't get the right angle on my own."

"You ever done this before?" Hershel asked Michonne.

"Once," she admitted. "He was unconscious though and we had morphine on hand in case."

"Where the hell did you get morphine?" Daryl groaned, wishing he had some.

"Do you think you can do it now?" he asked, ignoring Daryl.

"Other guy was lying down." She looked Daryl over. "But I can give it a shot."

Hershel gave a nod, keeping his eyes on them in case he needed to step in and give instruction. He'd dealt with dislocations on the farm, once when Maggie was young and fell off her horse and a few times when his horses and even his cows had pulled on their restraints to get away from him, successfully dislocating his shoulder. But he'd done those on himself and Maggie was pretty high on pain relief seen as he was unwilling to put her through more pain.

Michonne bent the arm at the elbow and got a good grip. She steadily and slowly rotated the shoulder, changing her stance slightly and Daryl's arm positioning a little very time it seemed like it wasn't working. Daryl was soon withering and he was almost about to snap when suddenly Michonne made a sharp movement and the shoulder popped back into place. He cursed out loud at the sharp pain but he couldn't deny that it felt much better.

"Sorry," she said, holding his arm still. "Slow and easy weren't working and I could see you were distracted so I went for it."

"Yeah, I was about to shout at ya," he admitted.

"And now?"

"Thanks," he mumbled. "It does feel better."

"Hold the arm there," Hershel said as he grabbed items out of the medical kit and fashioned together a sling. "Put the arm in that."

Michonne took it and carefully placed Daryl's arm into it, before tying it behind his neck.

"Is this necessary?" Daryl complained.

"No scans, remember?" Hershel said pointedly. "Like I said we could have made things worse, and a sling is common anyway."

"Fine, but what about huntin' and watch?"

"You're off watch duty until Hershel says that sling can come off," Rick told him.

"And I can hunt fine on my own," Merle shrugged.

Daryl grumbled to himself, managing to slip in a general thank you, before getting up. Carol quietly followed him as he headed to their place, thankful that everyone almost instantly went back to either watch, other duties or discussing what Rick, Maggie and Daryl worked out.

She didn't say a word, not even when they were both inside and he was stood leaning against the counter in their small kitchen. Instead she walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his middle, ignoring how uncomfortable it was to have his arm trapped between them. The same arm twitched as if he was dying to move it but he only settled for resting his good hand on her hip.

"You said things would be fine."

"I know," he agreed. "And they were."

She stepped away. "They did not go fine."

"We're alive aren't we?"

"But hurt."

"Comes with the territory these days," he shrugged.

She stared at him for a moment, trying to process what he'd said. "You really don't get how worried I was, do you? Well I was terrified and I couldn't tell anyone just how terrified I really was because we agreed to keep this secret. Whatever _this_ is. I thought maybe a relationship but now I'm not so sure, because if we were you'd care about someone other than yourself."

She stormed off, feeling very childish as she did so, but not stopping until she was shut inside the bedroom. She didn't bother to get changed as she climbed under the covers and pulled them up around her. She could hear Daryl enter the room but she refused to turn and apologise, even if she felt like she should. Part of her had meant it. He was talking like if he got hurt he got hurt, if he died he died, it's not the end of the world, it was like he wasn't even thinking about how she or anyone else in the group might feel if that happened. If they were supposed to be working through their barriers to have a 'proper' relationship then he needed to change that. She was almost so close to giving him a piece of her mind but she froze as he climbed in behind her, leaving just enough space but she could feel the fingers from what she hoped was his good hand touch her back carefully unsure. She rolled over, eyes closed, and held onto that good hand, not wanting to say another word about it.

* * *

_R&R_


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: **_Sorry about the big space between updates again, for a few days I had no wifi but I'm going to be honest with you guys and say I've lost all confidence when it comes to this story. Which is odd because you've all been amazing, hell, 44 reviews, 69 follows and 31 favourites at this early stage is amazing. So I am working on getting the feel of this story again and thank you guys so much, without you guys I wouldn't even be trying._

* * *

The breathing across her neck frightened her. Her mind was blank for a while, not knowing who was wrapped around her. She tried to wriggle away but whoever it was snaked a hand out and pulled her back. She came so close to freaking out and going head first into attack mode before her brain caught up with her and she remembered that it was Daryl. Feeling relief she rolled over to face him, surprised to see him watching her, wide awake.

"I'm usually the one that's tense," he commented.

She didn't respond, just kept watching him. She remembered being angry at him last night and she instantly wish she hadn't been. It just bugged her that he didn't seem to be bothered by the possibility of death. She knew deep down that he would fight 'til the end and would never allow himself to be turned into one of those things but she knew if the end came he'd accept it, and she was afraid that he'd do something reckless.

"Were you really that worried?" he asked when she didn't respond.

"When I saw Rick and Maggie without you I thought the worst," she admitted.

"I was fine."

"I know that now but back then I didn't," she sighed. "You need to understand that I had no idea that you were fine. All we knew was that you were left there alone."

"And I'm fine by myself."

"Is that what you want?" she questioned. "To be by yourself?"

"No," he said quickly, confusion sinking in. "I just mean I can handle myself."

"Well, I was still worried," she mumbled.

"I had to stay," he whispered. "Maggie was in no fit state and to be honest I was better than Rick."

"And he does have two children to come back to," she reluctantly agreed.

"That wasn't my first reason to send him back, I went with skill," Daryl explained. "Rick was strong enough to get Maggie back safely but I was better to stay on my own, God knows how long it would've been for."

"So the kids were second?" Carol guessed.

"Yeah," he nodded. "For Maggie it was health, second was Glenn, Hershel and Beth."

"And you?"

"I was always going to stay."

"But if there was a reason for you to leave."

"First, if Rick was more skilled or I was as bad as Maggie at the time," he started slowly, pacing himself for the second reason. "Second, was Merle and... You."

"Then why didn't you just come back?"

"And leave a perfectly good car?" he questioned. "We need that car. Plus we had some food, water and other stuff. Couldn't carry it all on my own."

None of this made her feel better. She still couldn't forget how worried she'd felt. "Daryl, if we're doing this thing, secret or not, you have to think more clearly. I know you were safe, deep down I know that you were safe out there but I was still worried. I refuse to lose you too so you have to remember that you have two people waiting for you here now. I know Merle doesn't act like he's that bothered but he cares."

"Be more careful," he nodded. "I got that."

She smiled a little, believing that he would. "Sorry that I seem a little... Yeah," she laughed nervously. "I just never had to care this much about anyone except Sophia."

"What about the others?"

"Oh I care about them, but it's different."

"How different?"

"Imagine how you feel about Merle." He nodded. "You love him even though, and no offense, he's been a bit of an ass since you guys joined us in Atlanta. And even though I can see you getting annoyed you still stand up for him. No matter what you'll always do that, right? You'll always love him."

"He's my brother, he's blood."

"And that's how I felt for Sophia," she nodded. "She could've said the most horrible things to me and I'd still love her. She could've done anything really."

"So where do I come into this?"

"It's the same with you," she shrugged. "No matter what happens I'll still want to be with you, take care of you, lo-"

He nodded, knowing what her last statement was going to be. If he was honest he was glad she didn't say it. He knew for a fact that he would've struggled to say it back even if he wanted to, and she deserved to hear it. After everything that had happened to Carol, losing her daughter, putting up with that pig of a husband, she deserved to hear that she was loved too and Daryl just wasn't sure if he could do that just yet.

* * *

Carol was meant to be on guard duty but she had sought Beth out and asked if they could swap. She had missed Judith and really wanted to spend some time with the little girl. Beth had been all too willing to agree and she'd even dragged Carl off with her to patrol the perimeter while Merle took over from Rick on the vantage point. It was the perfect swap in Carol's eyes. Especially when she sat on the bench with Judith in her arms and the little girl started to grasp at anything within reach and giggled. She may cry a fair bit and eat like there's no tomorrow (which may very well be the case), but Carol was happy that she was the age she was because the tiniest things amused her and kept her happy.

"Bet that girl would find paint drying amusing."

She smiled as Daryl sat on the seat beside her. He leaned his good arm on the table behind her and leaned in to get a closer look. "How's the arm?" Carol asked, intent on ignoring their close proximity.

"A little sore after sleeping last night," he admitted. "Nothin' I can't handle though."

"You sure?"

"She should stop worrying, don't ya think?" Daryl asked Judith has he let her hold onto his finger. Carol gave a disapproving look. "Yeah, I'm sure. It'll go away. Plus, worse things could happen to any of us in the future, we'll need as much as we can get then."

"Well if it gets too much tell me."

"I will," he promised. "Or Hershel seen as he has the drugs."

She smiled as she watched him tickle Judith's tummy. It was a sight she could get used to, especially if it was their kid, but she knew that was highly unlikely. With Daryl it would take years to get to that stage, and she wasn't naive, neither of them were exactly young and in the world they lived in would having a family really be a good idea? Hell, would she be able to do it again, knowing what was out there and what could happen?

"You OK?" he asked as he continued to amuse Judith.

She shook her head in an attempt to clear it. "Yeah, I'm fine, was just thinking."

"About?"

"Daryl Dixon, Super Nanny," she joked.

He gave the most sarcastic laugh she'd ever heard, and before he could tag a comment on the end she started to laugh, distracting him. Judith went silent for a moment, looking up in wonder until she started giggling, causing Daryl to start laughing as well. Of course Daryl regained control of himself first but he (and Carol) had to admit that him laughing was a rarity and it definitely wasn't a bad thing if he decided to do it some more.

* * *

After a while Beth had come back over for a drink of water. When she said she was going back they all swapped round again. Daryl had gone back to patrol instead (Carol still wasn't sure how that had happened), Beth took Judith and Carol went to help Rick and Hershel who were checking the weapons. She quietly sat with them and counted and catalogued the ammo while the two men checked and cleaned the guns. They spoke a bit before Daryl's arm was brought up.

"He said it was paining him or something this morning," she admitted. "But it's Daryl so he refused to take medicine."

"Maggie's the same," Hershel added. "Said that we may need it later for something important."

"Daryl had the same reason."

"We shouldn't have to worry about this sort of thing," Rick sighed. "We should all be healthy and safe."

"That's not possible in this world," Hershel sighed sadly.

"Hey," Carol said thoughtfully. "Maybe we should celebrate."

"Celebrate what?" Rick asked.

"Being alive?" she shrugged. "We should get some drink, cook a tiny bit extra than we normally do and spend some time together."

"It's not a terrible idea," Hershel agreed.

"After the last time out I'm not sure."

"This one will be easy," Carol promised. "We'll be careful."

After some convincing she managed to get Rick on board. They discussed who would go at first. Carol instantly volunteered and Rick suggested Michonne and Andrea, if one didn't want to go then he would. After the weapons were sorted they even made a list of things to get to make their "celebration" better. Luckily they would hopefully be able to get everything from one place with a couple of exceptions. Rick felt more confident and happy about the idea the more they discussed it.

* * *

"What's going on here?" Daryl asked when they all gathered for dinner and he spotted Andrea checking her gun.

"We're going for a run," Andrea supplied.

"Are you forgetting what happened recently?" Daryl demanded.

"No," Rick said, stepping in. "But we're low on fuel after what happened and we do need some supplies. We did what we did so runs would be easier, so we knew where was safe and where wasn't, where was worth going and where wasn't."

"Yes, but it wasn't easy was it."

"It'll be different this time," Andrea argued. "You guys went in blind like we usually do on runs. But we know what towns are quiet, what roads aren't blocked. Thanks to you guys we have it all mapped out. It's an in and out scenario. We won't even be gone that long."

"And what is this run for?" Daryl asked.

"Fuel," Rick said straight away. "And if they find some food, medicine, weapons, clothes, it would help."

"You sure that's it?" Daryl asked, watching the entire group this time.

"We were going to have a celebration," Beth spoke up, cracking first.

"So that was the real intention of this thing, huh?"

Carol spoke then, stepping forward slightly. "It's what started the idea for a run, yes. We figured we need drink, some extra food..."

"But I wouldn't allow it so Carol suggested we use it as a supply run too," Rick continued. "We do need fuel after yesterday and extra supplies can't hurt, can it?"

"Who's going?" Daryl sighed, knowing he wouldn't be going.

"Me and Michonne," Andrea explained.

"Just the two of ya?"

"No," Carol mumbled, looking anywhere but at him. "I am."

"Oh," he said, teeth clenched. "Right."

The group accepted that response and got back to what they were doing. Hershel and Rick were giving the list they'd put together to Michonne and Andrea, Hershel explaining some of the meds he put on there. The others were sat around either minding their own business or talking as they set about giving dinner out (Michonne, Andrea and Carol had eaten while they got their stuff together). Carol stood where she was, however, watching Daryl as he watched her. Some time passed between them before he turned and walked in the opposite direction. She quickly moved to walk with him, trying not to make too much of a scene.

As soon as they were out of the way of everyone Daryl pulled her to one side. "Weren't you even gonna talk to me about this?"

"This one will be safe."

"We thought about our trip."

"You were gone for a few days, anything could've happened," she argued.

"I sometimes go hunting for just as long and nothing ever happens."

"No, you're in your element when you hunt and you never venture too far unless you're trailing something big," she shot back. "And Merle is always there, it's his element too."

"Not to sound harsh but going on runs isn't exactly your element."

"Maybe it should be."

"No way," he growled. "You're staying here where I can keep an eye on ya."

"I have Michonne and Andrea with me."

"Make someone else go." He suddenly felt the worry that Carol must have felt. He was angry at first, thinking that maybe she was punishing him. She had put on this big thing about him being on his own, but then he realised that she wouldn't be on her own. She was doing this because she wanted to, because it was something that needed to be done, but he still didn't want her going.

"I can't, there is no one. Rick is exhausted, I'd rather Beth and Carl didn't go, Hershel and Judith can't, Maggie and you are out of action, and sending Merle out with Michonne and Andrea would not be a good idea."

"What about Glenn?" he asked hopefully.

"Maggie needs him," she sighed. "Plus he'll be a big help here."

"I need you," he mumbled. "If Glenn has to stay for Maggie then why can't you stay for me?"

"You have Merle and the others."

"It ain't the same."

She reached out and placed her hand lovingly on his cheek, giving him a moment to adjust. "I promise I'll come back. We're gong to the closet town. You guys said it was safe, rarely any walkers. I promise that at the first sign of trouble we'll turn back."

"Promise?"

"Promise," she nodded. "Plus, someone has to come back and make sure you don't get into trouble."

He rolled his eyes and hesitantly put his good hand on her hip, pulling her in closer to him. She smiled up at him as she wrapped her arms around him, resting her head on his chest. Ignoring the voice telling him to run he rested his cheek against the top of her head and wrapped his good arm around her, careful not to hold her too hard or too close. He was fighting with himself to plead one more time for her to stay and not go on the run. It amazed him that he appeared to be so weak. The old him wouldn't have given this much care if Carol had wanted to go on a run, sure he may have been concerned but he wouldn't have begged. God, if Merle had heard him.

"Carol we're leaving!" Andrea called.

Reluctantly Daryl let go and they walked over to where Andrea and Michonne waited for Carol.

* * *

**A/N: **_Sigh, so yeah. I do plan for like 90% of this story to be about Daryl and Carol's growing relationship but of course it's the Walking Dead so there will be runs (some good, some bad) along with some drama. But I don't plan to do too much of that. Anyway, hopefully the chapters will get better and more frequent soon x)_

_R&R_


	8. Chapter 8

Carol drummed her fingers against her leg. She had to admit it was hard to concentrate. She'd chosen to go on this run because it was her idea but also because she wanted to see what it was like for Daryl when he went on a run. She wasn't quite so sure what she expected but it wasn't this. All the worry she felt for Daryl while he was out there was unbearable but she felt almost just as worried thinking about not being with him. She didn't feel as worried because she knew he was safer back with everyone but still she worried and she wondered if Daryl ever did the same when he was out. He always surprised her, showing the odd moment of affection here and there, and she suddenly felt bad for ever thinking that he didn't think twice about her while he was out, essentially risking his life.

"You OK back there?" Andrea asked, looking at Carol briefly in the rearview mirror before darting her eyes back to the road.

"I'm fine," Carol assured. "Just thinking over what we need."

"We got a plan?" Michonne asked, scanning the area they passed.

Carol fiddled with the map they'd taken. "Erm, if I've got this right most of what we need is in the same part of town. It's a small town so they must've kept all the shops and that together."

"What about the medical stuff for Hershel?" Andrea inquired.

"It's too small for a hospital but it looks like they have a pharmacy in the same area," Carol noted. "Should have some of the stuff, but Hershel knew from the get go that getting medicine might be hard."

"Right," Andrea nodded. "Then I say we split up the jobs now. We can work faster if we each take part of the list."

Carol wasn't sure splitting up was a good idea but she agreed.

"Carol you take the pharmacy," Andrea decided. "I'll get the drink and the food seen as they'll be in the same place. Michonne you get weapons and the fuel. If any of us spot clothes or anything else off of the list we pick it up as we go."

"Sounds good to me," Michonne agreed.

Carol only made a noise of agreement. She kept the list seen as she'd need the list of medicine that was attached to it. When they arrived in the right part of town Michonne and Andrea took a quick look at the list before they split. Carol went straight to the pharmacy, one hand on her knife as she walked. None of the walkers looming around were too close and she was thankful to see that there didn't seem to be any inside the pharmacy either. Even so she still quietly slipped in and checked everywhere 'til she was sure it was completely safe.

When she was sure it was clear she opened the bag she'd brought and started to fill it with the medicine from the list. Most of it was behind the counter drugs so a lot of it had already been taken but she managed to make a dent in the list. She even went so far as to grab the bags of peoples prescriptions from the back and rummage through them. Luckily by time she got through almost half of the prescriptions she'd gotten all the main medicines. She managed to get some first aid things like bandages, plasters, antiseptic spray, etc from the shelves as well as some things that weren't on the list. She re-checked the list once she'd gotten anything and everything that looked useful. If she was right there was a few items that she hadn't got yet. She didn't recognise the names and as much as she wanted to help the others she didn't fancy going through all those bags of prescriptions. That's when an idea struck, so she slipped out of the pharmacy with her bag.

She looked around briefly before slipping into the convenient store that was next door. She managed to slip by the one walker that was in there and get to the backpacks she saw hanging up. There were only four of them so she grabbed them all and slipped back out, the walker none the wiser of her presence. When she got back out she slipped quickly into the pharmacy and up to where the prescriptions were kept. She emptied the already open bags into the backpacks until one backpack was full. She then just grabbed the bags of prescriptions and started to stuff them into the backpacks without checking what they were. She crammed as much as she could into the bags, she figured the more she grabbed the better things they would find. They were lucky that no one decided to checked the back of the pharmacy for prescriptions, maybe because they were usually locked, but they couldn't hope that no one would try when they found the place so she was going to take what she could carry.

Once the bags were filled she thought about how she was going to carry all of it. She choose to take the bag she'd brought herself and put the strap over her shoulder. She then put one of the backpacks on. Looking at the other three she did her best to carry them in one hand so her other one could hold her knife. As she got used to the weight in her hand she heard moaning and shuffling. Instantly she froze and dropped the three bags in her hand. As she whirled round she spotted three walkers heading towards her. How had she missed them? The door was shut and you had to twist the handle to get in so no way they came from outside. She cursed herself as she thought of a way out of this.

As one got dangerously close she had no choice but to strike out with her knife. It knocked the walker back just as the second one came up on her right side. She twist and dug her knife into it's head. It must have hit a particularly gooey part because when she pulled her hand back a spray of blood came with it, going up her neck, coating her cheek and tangling in a bit of her hair. The feeling of it disgusted her enough to hate the things in front of her even more than she already did. She spun back round to stab the first one, this time getting it right between the eyes. As she was pulling her knife free the third one came closer. She kicked out and it stumbled back as her knife came free she kicked the remaining walker again. It fell onto its back and she watched it wriggle, trying to get at her while also trying to get off of its back. She walked over to it, staying far enough away not to get scratched or bitten. Before all the negative feelings inside of her got to much she lifted her foot and brought it down, crushing the walkers chest. Blood sprayed into the air as she did it two more times, getting the blood all over her clothes. She crouched closer to it as it snarled and snapped its jaw. She watched it and just before it tried to bite her she drove her knife into its skull effectively putting it down. She stabbed the same area a few more times causing more blood to splatter up, this time over her top and even on her face a little. When she felt a little bit of release she stopped and stood up. Without too much of a fuss she picked up the three remaining bags and left the pharmacy to go to the car.

"Carol, what happened?" Andrea asked as she rushed forward.

"Three walkers."

"They get you?" Michonne asked pushing herself away from the car.

She looked down at herself. "It's all theirs, they didn't even touch me."

"Are you OK?" Andrea asked.

"I'm fine," Carol nodded. She knew that all the anger she'd felt back there, the way she'd killed them, it was months and months of built up anger towards them. Anger for taking her little girl away from her and anger that they could take someone else, Daryl for instance. "I just grabbed everything that would fit in these."

Michonne looked impressed when she saw the amount of bags Carol had. Between the three of them they loaded them into the car. With the things Andrea and Michonne got they even had to put a couple of bags on the backseat, the boot being too full to take it. Carol was pretty impressed with herself. The last time she fought walkers completely alone was when she got trapped. She hated those things with a passion and she was glad she could channel that into killing those things and keeping herself alive.

* * *

As soon as they stepped out of the car all attention was on them, especially Carol. Carl, Beth and Merle quietly took the bags out (although Merle watched the three women, wondering how his brother might react). They took them over to a waiting Glenn and Maggie. Hershel limped closer so he could check everyone while Rick watched with worry. Michonne and Andrea shrugged Hershel off saying they ran into no trouble. All eyes were on Carol then who had obviously ran into some sort of trouble.

"So how was the 'easy' run?" Daryl asked as he made his way over from the vantage point (something he had to persuade Rick on). He clearly hadn't seen Carol, he was being his usually sarcastic self, acting like a child who got its toys taken from him.

"Uh, Daryl," Rick said, a little uneasy, he had been one to assure it would go well.

Daryl sensed the tension and he jogged round the car to get a better look. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Carol, covered head to toe in blood. She watched him, suddenly feeling very nervous.

"Glenn take your shirt off," Daryl ordered.

"My what?"

"Your shirt," he repeated.

Glenn looked at Maggie for help but she only shrugged. He bit his lip but pulled it off and threw it to Daryl's waiting hand. He gripped it properly in his hand and walked closer to Carol. Her eyes looked at the ground as he approached, not entirely sure how he was going to react. To her surprise he used Glenn's top to wipe the blood from her face and neck, ignoring Glenn's protests. She watched him carefully as he did so. His jaw was clenched but she couldn't tell if it was because of her or the fact everyone was watching. When her face and neck was as clean as it could be he dropped Glenn's top.

"You said it would be fine."

"It was," she promised.

"Really?" he laughed. "I also remember you promising that you'd get out of there at the first sign of trouble."

"I did," she argued. "Just had to go through three walkers to do it."

"And how the hell did you run into three walkers?"

"If you haven't noticed the world is crawling with them.".

"It's not the time to be funny," he snapped gripping her arm.

She wanted to make a comment, she really did but his fingers were digging painfully into her arm. "Daryl, you're hurting me."

He immediately loosened his grip but he didn't look any better. She smiled at him a little but he didn't return it, he only dragged her away from everyone and in the direction of their little apartment. Carol could only imagine the looks everyone was giving them but she only had eyes for Daryl at the moment, watching him as he quickly led them up the stairs and inside.

He left her standing in the middle of the living room as he went into the bathroom. He came back out with a large bowl of water and a couple of towels. He set the bowl on the coffee table and dipped part of one of the towels into it. She pulled her top off so he could wipe at her shoulders and chest a little easier as well as her face. She watched the angry look on his face, knowing he was doing this as a distraction. Once the blood was wiped away he handed her the other towel to dry herself. He then sat her down on the coffee table. He cupped some water in his hand and gently let it fall into her hair. He gently rubbed as much of the blood out as he could before he took the clean towel from her and dried her hair off.

"Why did you do that?" she whispered.

"It made me feel even angrier the more blood there was."

"I'll go change then," she said quietly, standing up.

He didn't stop her so she grabbed the bowl of water and left. She got some clean clothes out of the bedroom and made her way into the small bathroom. She set the bowl on the side and stripped down. There were only a few specs of blood left but she spent some time rubbing the water (with a tiny bit of soap) into her skin before she dried off with a clean towel. As she hung it up to dry she washed her hair with a bit of shampoo and let the water drip from her hair as she nervously got changed and try to anticipate what would happened when she stepped out of room.

When she did walk out Daryl was sat on the couch, right at the edge, looking down at the ground. She put her bloodied clothes into the the rubbish knowing that she definitely did not want to scrub them, before she went over to Daryl. When he didn't look up, she knelt down so that she was between his legs. Her hands rested on his knees and eventually he looked at her.

"That could've been your blood."

"It wasn't."

"What happened?" he demanded.

"I left the pharmacy and got a few bags from the convenient store, I didn't check the pharmacy when I went back in but I swear nothing was there I was only gone for a few minutes if that. Anyway, while I was filling the bags at the back of the pharmacy I heard them. I looked up and there was three, I had to kill, couldn't get around them."

"Anything could've happened to you."

"I know," she agreed. "But I'm fine."

"I guess I know how you felt," he said, a hint of a smile forming.

"And being out there without you wasn't exactly easy."

"I guess we both understand both sides now."

She nodded and gave both his legs a gentle squeeze. "They'll have questions."

"Shit," he mumbled, running his hands through his hair. "I didn't think!"

"I know, which was kind of nice," she admitted. "Shows you care."

"What do we do?" he asked nervously.

"We lie down for a bit and we face them when we wake up."

"Do we tell them?"

She shook her head. "We lie. We have more to work on than I thought. But we'll need to tell them soon."

"I know," he agreed. "They probably already know."

"Yeah, I bet they don't believe our lies tomorrow," she agreed.

"You're really OK," he said after a moment.

"I'm really OK."

He pulled her into a hug, bigger than any one he had given before, squeezing just that bit extra and fighting with himself to let go of her. In the end he did let go but one look at her had him leaning forward and pressing his lips against hers. She kissed him back without even thinking about it but soon she had to push him away slightly. He looked alarmed and immediately hung his head.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"No, don't be," she assured. "I just want to ask you something first."

He looked up, feeling a little better. "OK... What?"

"What makes you turn away from things like this?" she asked, motioning between them.

"I get in too deep," he shrugged. "I realise I can't go as far as my mind thinks. I'm scared of messing it up and not being good enough."

He blushed, the brightest red she'd ever seen, but she was happy that he was being honest, that he seemed to trust her enough to say all of that. "Daryl," she whispered. "You don't have to worry about any of that. With Ed it was all about what he wanted, I could never speak up about anything that bothered me when it came to anything physical between us, but with you I know I can speak up and that automatically makes you good enough."

"Seriously?"

She nodded happily when she saw his smile. "Oh yeah, and you won't mess anything up."

"I'm sure I will," he sighed.

She pecked his lips once. "No, and if you find yourself wanting to stop then stop, even if it's at the last second."

"Even if we... Erm... If we get that far?" he asked, voice breaking slightly.

"I think we're a long way off from there, but yes even then." When he still looked unsure she continued on. "If you don't want to stop but you're nervous or scared, then just tell me, and I'll help you through it."

He let out a sigh and kissed her once. "Sorry, I'm just not used to all this."

"I'm just happy you're talking to me about it, the old you never would." She smiled and he smiled back. "And don't worry, it's all new for me too I guess. I may have experience but it wasn't really much of a choice, it was whatever Ed wanted."

At those words he leaned down and kissed her again, pulling her with his hand so that she'd stand. He used the same hand to hesitantly guide her down to straddled him. "You have choices now," he promised. He kissed her again before she had a chance to respond. His hand resting lightly on her hip. "Is this OK?"

"You're a good person," she mumbled against his lips. "Trust me, you'll be able to tell when it's not, for both of us."

He moved his lips lightly against hers again, taking things slowly and gently. She kissed him back, but let him take the lead, going at a pace he was comfortable with. She knew he needed to be in the one in charge so that he wouldn't be rushed and back out again. All she had to do really was remember that she was allowed to enjoy this, that it wasn't Ed. And with Daryl's thumb slowly rubbing circles on her thigh it was easy enough for her to remember.

* * *

**A/N: **_yay, I think this is the quickest I've updated. One reason is because the idea came to me and I didn't want to lose it or talk myself out of it, I saw some advice on tumblr that said if you're an artist (whether that be a illustrator, writer or musician) you should produce something every day for yourself and not worry about others so I'm trying to do that. But the other big reason is you guys. The reviews are amazing. The love and support is phenomenal. Thank you so much!  
__  
R&R_


	9. Chapter 9

"Hey, how are you and Daryl?"

Carol looked up to see Rick just as she stepped outside of the door, he had his hand raised like he was intending to knock on the door before she opened it. She nervously looked behind her to see Daryl still fast asleep on the couch before shutting the door completely behind her.

"Daryl's still sleeping but we're fine."

"What was that all about yesterday?" Rick asked. "I know we were all worried but the way Daryl acted..."

"I'd given him a hard time after his run, and the I pretty much went and did the same thing," Carol explained. "He pulled me away to give me a hard time to show how unfair I was to him."

"Oh," Rick nodded, sounding surprised.

"Yeah." They both turned to see the door open and Daryl standing there. "Wanted her to see that she was wrong but I didn't want to embarrass her."

"Well, I wouldn't say I was entirely wrong," Carol added. "We agreed that what happened wasn't our fault _but _we both could've done something to avoid it."

"Yeah, we agreed," Daryl nodded.

"So, you're both OK?"

"We are, was there anything else you needed?" Carol asked, trying to be polite but wanting to end this encounter.

"No, just wanted to check… Although, Daryl, Hershel said leave it a couple of days and he'll look at your shoulder again."

"And I can get it out of this damn thing?" Daryl asked, motioning to the sling.

"No," Rick said uneasily, taking a step back. "It could take at least a couple of months to heal."

"At least?!"

"Yeah," Rick nodded slowly. "It should feel much better before then though, but he said something about making it worse if you use it before its time."

"So what hell am I supposed to do 'til then?"

"We'll work something out," Rick answered awkwardly. "But I really should be going."

Carol tried not to laugh as Rick all but fled from them. She couldn't blame him really, Daryl was never out of action but now he was and could be for a long time. When she turned to face him he still looked angry. Her eyes stayed on his shoulder as she thought. He could probably keep watch if he was with someone who could fire a gun, and she knew if push came to shove he could probably fight with a knife or some sort of contact weapon. But she knew he probably couldn't hunt, not properly, maybe he could trail things with Merle but he couldn't take the kill shot.

"I'm sure it won't take that long," she whispered. "You heal up pretty fast."

"I've still got to be useless for a while."

"You're not useless," she assured. "Far from it."

"I get the feeling you're meant to say that."

"I thought I had choices now, that means I have the choice to say what I want."

"Fine, maybe you don't, but I would be better with both arms."

"Hershel has one leg."

"Yeah but he makes up for not being able to fight properly by fixin' us up."

She grabbed his hand. "C'mon."

The two of them started to walk down the stairs, Daryl closing the door behind them as they went. They kept their hands locked together until they came out from the side of the building. Reluctantly the two of them let go and moved slightly away from each other. Daryl even walked a little head while Carol's eyes wandered off as she walked at a more casual pace.

When they reached the table nobody said anything, suggesting that Rick must have already spoken to them. Michonne and Andrea were both missing, both of them being on watch but everyone else was already sat waiting on breakfast, even Merle which surprised both Daryl and Carol. The older Dixon had started eating dinner with them but breakfast was a rare occasion, usually he would stand away from the group, take his breakfast and then go.

Carol and Daryl both sat down, giving each other the same curious look. The two of them tried not to think about it too much as they grabbed a couple of pastries and some water for their breakfast. At the same time they both looked up at Merle who grabbed more food and was still sat there, again the same curious look passed between them.

* * *

Carol was sat on the steps outside of the Greene house, having just helped Beth to bath Judith, when Rick approached her. He smiled down at her before taking a seat on the step beside her.

"I felt bad about earlier," Rick admitted. "About his arm."

"He just doesn't like to be put out."

"I know," Rick agreed. "I've been trying to think of things he could do while his arm is in that sling. Could you help me?"

"What do you have so far?"

"Ah," he started awkwardly. "That's the problem."

She smiled and started to think. "He could still go on watch as long as someone is with him."

"That's good," he agreed. "Hunting?"

"No, he won't be able to fire his crossbow, he'll only be able to track and maybe lay some traps."

"We'll give him the choice but we won't make it final," Rick decided. "He could go on more runs when it gets a bit better."

"_Maybe_."

"He could look after Judith a little, she likes him," Rick shrugged. "And me and him can sit and sort some things out."

"I don't think there is that much he could do," Carol sighed.

"Well, I might as well go and talk to him." He looked up and so did Carol, both noticing Daryl. "No time like the present."

"You'll be fine, just got to tell him he has to be with someone on watch, has to babysit and sit through the planning rather than the actual doing." She paused and looked over at Rick. "Yeah, maybe you won't be fine…"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," he muttered as he could.

"Sorry, you'll be fine," she lied.

"Send a search party if you hear any screams."

* * *

Rick didn't need a search party and thankfully no screams came either. Daryl had agreed to doing watch and to helping Rick as much as he could with plans. He even agreed to have someone with him whenever he went on watch. It had gone surprisingly well but Rick had noticed the way Daryl sulked. Especially when the topic came up about hunting and babysitting. There was no way he was going to admit that he needed to rely on Merle more than ever to help feed them all, and Daryl highly doubted that he'd be able to take proper care of a baby with two hands let alone one.

But they'd agreed on _something_ for him to do so it was better than nothing. Rick even managed to help convince Daryl that he would heal fast. In a couple of weeks, maybe three his arm would probably feel a million times better. He could probably accompany runs and even go on certain watches on his own. Then in another couple of weeks he could probably take the sling off and be able to move his arm more freely as long as he was careful.

By time dinner had arrived Daryl was feeling a bit better, especially after Rick asked Hershel to look at his shoulder a little earlier than intended. The elder Greene had been amazed, informing Daryl that his arm already looked a lot better than it should've done at that stage. Of course Daryl wasn't exactly jumping for joy like any person normally would be but he did walk around with a smirk on his face for a bit, a tiny almost unnoticeable spring in his step.

"I might be seeing things, but I'd say you were happy," Carol whispered to him.

"I have no idea what you mean," he shrugged, digging into his meat.

"Sure, so that wasn't a spring in your step earlier?" she asked. "And you haven't been walking around with a smirk on your face?"

"Nope, you're seeing things."

"Good, because I'd like to think those rare shows of happiness are just for me," she said quietly.

Daryl's hand reached out under the table to squeeze her knee slightly. "Never said they weren't."

She opened her mouth to talk again but Rick also chose that moment to talk. Carol just smiled at Daryl and laid her hand over his before they both shuffled away from each other slightly.

"A lot has happened," Rick started. "I think we just got a bit careless, but I think a way passed it now would be to talk about it."

"Like some self-help group?" Daryl asked, eyebrow raised, as Merle scoffed.

"If you want to think of it that way," Rick shrugged. "But I understand that at the prison while the Governor was still around we all had to just focus on winning and nothing else. And we've had to push everything else a side to get everything right here and it's done us no good."

"He's right," Hershel agreed. "We've all bottled up a lot."

"What are we supposed to talk about?" Glenn questioned.

"Anything," Rick suggested. "From how you feel right up to what you want to do for this group. It can be anything."

"Sure," Andrea agreed, smile forming as she nodded at Carl. "But you go first."

"Whoa, whoa," Rick said, hands raised. "It was my idea, I shouldn't have to go first."

"Yeah, Dad," Carl spoke up. "Show us how it's done."

"Fine." He took a deep breath. "I know I went off the handle a little when Lori… But I finally think I've got complete control of it. Before I wasn't much of a leader, I didn't listen and I didn't meet every day needs but that's going to change now that we've settled and now the threat of the Governor is gone we have _some_ space to relax a little. Which means if you guys need something then come to me and we'll work out a way to get it sorted. Also, in terms of decisions we go back to a group vote unless I feel the decision is a matter of life or death and I have no choice but to make it."

"I think we can all agree that that is acceptable," Hershel nodded. "Better to keep on track."

"Daddy's right," Maggie agreed. "Back at the prison there was too much tension." She looked at Merle briefly. "And there's a lot that still can't be forgiven _but_ I for one plan to push pass any issues I had and leave them in the past."

Glenn reluctantly nodded. "Yeah, I'm the same. We'll forget about what happened before we came here, but if anything new happens then there are no promises. But I completely agree with doing things as a group again, splitting jobs between us. I want to help on more runs, like we did back in Atlanta."

"Glenn?" Maggie questioned.

"I could do runs on my own when I got used to the place, I know that's not possible now but I want to take more charge in plotting out routes through the towns," he explained. "I want some extra time on runs to check things out more thoroughly so I know where to go if we ever get stuck somewhere."

"He's right," Michonne spoke up. "You all work good together, we work good together, but we each have our own strengths. I vote we go over those strengths and see how we can apply them."

"It means we put our strengths to better use," Andrea agreed. "I don't have any suggestions but I do want to say sorry. I promise you that working with the Governor was a choice I made because I thought I could help people. I didn't know he was as bad as he was at first, I stayed on his side for a while because I wanted to unite us. Those people in Woodbury are good, we took out the bad ones and I believe they'll be an even better community now. And we're happy too."

"Seems you did get what you wanted," Carl smiled. "I also wanted to say sorry, for how I was acting. I think Dad was right with us having to bottle things up and Maggie saying tensions were running high. It's a lot more relaxing here, it's nice. Helping out with Judith is nice too. I still want to go on _some _runs and continue with watch but I feel much better for being here."

"Tell you what," Daryl spoke up. "I have nothing to do with my arm here, why don't I teach you some more skill with that knife of yours? Maybe teachin' you some pointers for huntin', and then when it's healed I can take you out."

Everyone turned to look at him. "Are you serious?" Carl asked.

Daryl nodded. "It's one of my strengths. I'd teach you to use the bow but I'd rather get a smaller one to do that."

"But your arm…"

"I can talk ya through it," Daryl assured. "We'll take it slow, only go through the basics first. I can set some sort of course up for ya to practice on."

"Or I could teach you?" Merle spoke up, smirk in place.

Carl surprisingly smirked back. "I think I'll take Daryl."

"I thought so," Merle nodded. "And I would apologise for everythin' but honestly most of you wouldn't believe me."

"Because you're not?" Glenn questioned.

Merle shrugged. "No idea."

"Well," Hershel spoke up, interrupting the moment. "My turn… Ah, let's see. I figured I myself need to change. Now I can't promise I will entirely, but I already help out with my own strength so I need to do something else. I had a lot of strong opinions before but the world ending has made those opinions… Well, they're not exactly plausible, so I'm trying to change my ways some, get more of an open mind on things."

"Open minded?" Beth asked quietly.

"Yes, Bethy."

"Open minded enough to train me up and let me go on runs?"

Hershel bit his tongue before he could say no. "How about a trail?"

"What sort of trial?" Beth asked curiously.

Hershel pondered it for a moment and Carol could see that Beth was starting to think that her father was looking for a way out of this. "How about this," Carol spoke up. "We teach each other our strengths. Then we all, especially Carl, Maggie, Daryl and Beth have to go through a trial to see if they're suitable. If everyone agrees then you can go on runs that your strengths work best on."

"Why us especially?" Carl, Maggie and Daryl all asked.

"Because Carl you're a child and it would be good to test your strengths anyway," Carol explained. "As for Maggie and Daryl, you're both injured, your trial would be to see if you've healed up well enough."

"What sort of trial?" Beth asked brightly.

"You need to apply any of our strengths that can be used out there on runs, anyway we see fit," Carol decided. "If you could do, let's say, two or three then that's a fair pass but may require you to practice them more or train a little better on another one."

"Alright," Rick chuckled. "I like it. So strengths… Proper scouting and run skills from Glenn, hunting and tracking from the Dixons, quicker attacks and outside survival tips from Michonne, some shooting from me, fishing from Andrea, medical knowledge from Hershel, and from Carol we have cooking and essentials."

Carol knew it didn't sound like much but it was still something, and she was happy to help. She was shocked to see that besides Maggie and Beth she was one of the only ones who knew how to cook properly. Some of them knew how to cook basic things but any of them wouldn't have cooked any of the food properly, maybe Andrea could've pulled it off but that would be it. She was happy to do that, and to help people understand what they should take on runs or what they should have ready to go if they moved,

"What about us?" Maggie, Beth and Carl asked. Although Beth doubted she had any skills.

"You three are completely different, I want you three to think of what else we need to learn, _but_ I want you to test us on them before you teach us them. I choose you three because I need adult supervision but I also need to see it from a slightly younger viewpoint too."

"So we get to test you all?" Maggie grinned.

"Yes," Rick nodded. "But at least one of you has to be able to do each thing properly."

"We can do that," Carl nodded.

"I think we can come up with some things," Beth said excitedly.

"Well, now that's sorted," Rick said, clapping his hands together. "Let's finish up dinner and enjoy tonight. We start tomorrow."

Carol finished the rest of her food, smiling as she did so. She could remember Glenn doing runs like he was making a cup of tea, and Andrea catching a whole bunch of fish in one trip. She definitely knew how good both Dixons were at hunting and how much better they were together, even back in Atlanta when Merle was high all the time. Seeing it all again would definitely make things better. So would getting Michonne more involved, as well as Merle and letting everyone learn some of Hershel's medical knowledge. The only thing that worried her slightly was the surprise Maggie, Beth and Carl were going to plan. She knew it wasn't just for supervision, but also because Maggie was versatile. Since meeting her we saw she was skilled on runs, could horseback ride, use all sorts of weapons, could cook, could grow things, could do some medical things and could drive any of the cars. She was easily able to pick up any skill, Beth and Carl were there to think from a more creative and free side. That worried Carol, they'd all fail the surprise trial for sure.

She was brought from her thoughts when Daryl squeezed her knee again. He motioned with his head for her to come walk with him. When she nodded he stood up and said he was going to go lie down early to rest his shoulder. Luckily for Carol Hershel slid her over a strip of painkillers, giving her an excuse to go after him. She grabbed the tablets with a thanks and started to make her way after him, trying not to rush.

When she got into the house Daryl was leaning against the wall just inside the door. She held up the painkillers and he rolled his eyes. She smiled but left them near the bottles of water. When she turned back to him he was smiling, she leaned against the side of the end counter and watched him, her arms folded across her chest. He pushed off of the wall and walked closer to her. She dropped her arms to her sides when he was right in front of her.

"I liked your idea to test us."

"Yes well, I don't want anyone going out there who can't handle it."

"Let's agree our next run will be together."

"What?"

"I'm asking for you to not go on a run until my arm is better," he explained, holding her hand lightly. "So my first one back will be yours too. That way I can see what you're like out there and I'll know you really will be OK."

"And I can be sure too," she smiled, squeezing his hand.

"So we're agreed?"

"One on condition."

He gulped. "Er… What?"

"Don't worry," she grinned. "I just want to a go with your crossbow, once your shoulder is better of course."

Daryl didn't know what he expected but it definitely wasn't that. He _almost_ pouted when she said it. Daryl wouldn't deny that he was protective over his bow, he'd slice someone in two for even thinking about touching it, but here Carol was asking to have a go. He assumed she meant just one go, not that it mattered, if she asked him the right way he'd probably give in each time.

"Don't look so scared," she said when he didn't answer. Her eyes ran over him for a brief second before she headed towards the living room. "I handle fragile things with care."

* * *

_First, you are all amazing, thank you so much for the interest. Please keep it coming in, I like to know what you guys like about this (and_ sometimes_ what you don't like)_._ Honestly, your reviews have made me smile and feel happy._

_As for the chapter. I chose the idea of teaching each other things and the trials because I wanted more of a group feeling, plus I wanted to be able to put Carol and Daryl in close proximity while they're with the group._

_R&R_


	10. Chapter 10

Carol tried to even her breathing as they all waited to find out what on earth Maggie, Carl and Beth wanted them to do. It had been a couple of days since their idea to test each other had come about. They'd all learned the basics of each other's strengths and once the surprise test was out of the way they would learn the strengths in more detail. It'd been not stop really, only those on watch and those who were injured getting away with it, but it did mean those people had to catch up.

She didn't question Maggie, Carl or Beth as they led them to the fence and opening nearest the woods. It was the same one that Daryl and Merle went through to go hunting. Carol wondered why on earth the three had brought the group here and she was kind of worried of what they might have in store. This time around it was Glenn and Michonne that were on watch and missing out.

"First thing we want to see is," Carl shouted loudly. "If you can climb a tree."

"A tree?" Daryl snorted.

"You're out of course," Maggie said, motioning to his arm. "As am I and Daddy, but everyone else has to try, we'll test Daryl on it when he's better, same with me. Glenn and Michonne were tested before they took over watch and the three of us agreed that they passed."

"Who's gonna show us how it's done?" Daryl questioned.

Carl slipped through the fence and went to the tree closest so everyone could see while staying on the other side of the fence. He grasped a lower hanging branch and pulled himself up a little, placing his feet on the tree to give himself some leverage. He eventually got onto the branch. After that it only took him seconds to get on the next branch, then the next and then the next until he was so far up the tree that it was hard for those on the ground to see him.

"We decided on this one," Maggie explained. "Because if you're in this sort of environment and you're injured or low on weapons then you may need to get out, this might be your only option."

"We want you guys to give it a shot," Carl added as he climbed down. "We want to see how far you can get up in the time we give you."

"How long do we have?" Rick asked.

"I'm going to sing the lyrics to a song in my head," Beth smiled. It's about 2 minutes 30 seconds long, that's being generous but that's how long you have."

"Why not sing out loud?" Carol asked.

"We don't want to distract you too much at this stage," Beth went on. "Plus, you might worry or try to cheat if you know how much time you have left."

They all nodded and climbed through the fence to start climbing. Hershel, Maggie, Daryl, Beth, Carl and Judith all waited on the inside of the fence. Andrea climbed first, she struggled a little on the first branch but after that she got up pretty quickly and got just as high as Carl. Merle was next, Carol wondered if he could do it but he did, in fact he was faster than Andrea and got to the same branch. Rick managed to get the bottom branch easy enough but the small branch that served as the second one put him off, he almost lost his balance but managed to push through to the right branch. Carol gulped as her turn came. She looked at the bottom branch, working it out. As she stepped closer she noticed a little dent in the tree. She gripped the branch and placed her foot in the dent as she pushed herself up. She got her arms hooked over the branch and managed to slowly pull herself up while pushing her feet against the tree to help her. She realised once she was up that a lot of time had passed. She pulled herself up onto the small branch that Rick almost fell off and steadied herself. She took a deep breath before jumping into the air and throwing her body over the third branch. After that she kept climbing, using branches that the group hadn't used to get just as high in record time.

When she dropped herself lightly to the ground her eyes instantly sought out Daryl. He stood watching her, smirk firmly in place. She didn't know why his approval meant so much to her but it did. She felt like she'd done better than she first thought because of that look he gave her. Even when they revealed the next test was to protect Judith from walkers she stayed happy. Both Michonne and Glenn had passed this one too. The person being tested would have Judith in her cot. She would stay where she was, perched in her Moses basket, but the others would play walkers who had to be fended off. Once the person being tested pulled the piece of cloth they wore somewhere on their body away they were dead. Everyone passed this test, although Andrea came dangerously close to failing when Carl snuck passed her while she was dealing with Beth and Rick.

When Carol went up she suddenly didn't feel so sure. She knew Andrea had grown to be a better fighter so if she couldn't do it then maybe she couldn't either. But she braced herself in front of the cot and waited. She examined the 'walkers' as they drew closer. Merle's little cloth was tucked into his back pocket, Carl's one was in his belt loop at the side, Beth's was in the same place, Rick's was tucked into his gun holster (his gun laid on the table near by) and Andrea's one was in her shirt pocket. Carol examined them all as they got into position.

As Maggie yelled go the 'walkers' just wandered around aimlessly for a bit. Carol stayed close to Judith, keeping as quiet as possible, debating on how to do this. Beth broke away from the others so Carol decided to take her out. The aim was to keep Judith safe but that didn't mean that standing there waiting it out was an option. She darted forward. Her right arm was her 'weapon' meaning if any part of the 'walker' hit her right arm then she was still in the game. She held her right arm in front of her at an angle, shielding her body. She managed to sneak up on Beth and pull her cloth away, 'causing her to drop to the floor, pretending to be death. But of course that only attracted more attention. Carol made her way quickly back to Judith, not wanting to leave her alone for too long. Carl came along first, dragging one foot as if it had been injured. She managed to back him up as he pretended to try and bite her. She got him far enough away that he tripped and fell back. She swooped down and grabbed his cloth, effectively putting him out of action. When she spun round to see where the others were she realised she had stepped too far from Judith. Merle, Andrea and Rick were all very close to her now. She ran full force and went straight into the back of Merle. She hit him in the back, knocking him off balance. She snatched up his cloth before stepping herself quickly in front of Judith. Rick and Andrea were now only a few steps away, both on either side of her. She gently lifted Judith out, unwrapped her from her blanket and laid her back in. She threw the blanket at Rick. It landed over his head and he felt around aimlessly. Carol turned swiftly and just managed to grab Andrea's cloth before she got bit. Turning one more time she saw the blanket slowly sliding off of Rick, she reached forward and snatched his cloth.

She knew it would be nothing like the real thing but Carol couldn't help but feel pleased with herself. A lot of the action she'd gotten had usually ended bad for her so being in control felt good for her. She eagerly awaited the next task, sending a smile over to Daryl as they all made their way up to the table where they usually had breakfast and dinner. There was a sheet over it. Carl pulled off the sheet to show different items. Some weapons, every day things and stuff you might find in the wild.

"Sometimes," Maggie started to explain. "You have weapons and other times you have to improvise. You need to step up and choose a weapon and use it, we will then shout at you a group. Things that you can aim or throw may be used on the further back target, anything you're going to use by hand is for the closer target."

"The groups we have are weapons, kitchen items, household items, garage items, woodland items, and convenient store items," Carl explained. "You might see these items, you might not, you might even see more."

"I warn you now," Maggie grinned. "Michonne only just failed this. She was so used to having her sword all the time that she struggled. I warn you if your weapon fails then you lose a point. Fail three times and you're out."

The fact that Michonne had failed such a task shocked them, even if it was only slight. Daryl gave Carol a quick reassuring smile to keep her going. She tried to concentrate on that smile as everyone had a shot. Beth admitted she'd failed too and even Carl, but Maggie managed to pass the ones you could do without putting too much weight on her foot. Andrea stepped up but failed, having preferred guns and being better at the smaller weapons and not so good with the big. Merle only just passed the test as did Rick. That left Carol who nervously went up and studied the weapons. She chose the dagger that sat there, having used one a lot herself. She stepped up to the post that was hammered into the ground.

"Now," Maggie started. "You need to stab the post like you were stabbing a walker. It needs to go into the wood a fair amount but you also need to bring it back out again."

Carol got into a better stance and kept her eyes on the post. She knew she didn't have long, if this was a walker it would be on her soon. She found her mark, brought the dagger up. She took a deep breath before slamming the dagger down and burying it into the post. Quite a bit of the tip went in but she had to be able to pull it out. She kept one foot on the ground but placed the other one the post. She wrapped one hand round the handle of the dagger and held the post with the other. She pulled at it and eventually it came lose.

"kitchen!" Carl yelled.

She ran back to the table and put the dagger down. From the kitchen area she grabbed meat cleaver. She ran at the target this time and brought the cleaver down on top of the post, sending a split down part of it. With the wood split it was easy for her to pull the cleaver out. She swung it round in her hand as she walked back at the table, feeling good about her strength. She dropped the cleaver onto the table and waited.

"Garage!"

She grabbed a socket wrench and studied the target that was further away. It was a post that had to long sticks attached to it horizontally A piece of cloth was attacked at either end to both sticks. She took aim and threw as hard as she could at the target. It hit dead in the center but of course bounced back because it couldn't pierce anything. Maggie told her that it still counted because it would've distracted the walker long enough for her to get away. Carol happily made her way back to the table as she waited.

"Convenient store!"

From there she choose a pair of scissors. She opened them up as far as they could go, happy to see that they stuck slightly. She took aim and threw it at the further away target. She must have misjudged it because it soared passed the cloth, only just missing it. That was her only miss so far and there was only one more group to be called. There was the possibility of household items and woodland items. They always left one category out so that you didn't know what one to expect.

"Woodland!"

She cursed. Any of those would be amazing if she had something else on her. With the stick she could easily make a spear if she had something sharp to go with it. She studied them, trying to work out what on Earth she was going to do with them. Eventually she settled on the rock. She threw it up and down in her hand. It was big but it wasn't too heavy. She took aim and threw as hard as she could. It hit the cloth and rolled away. She only just passed with that, again because she could get away while it was distracted. She didn't do as well as some people but she managed to just pass thanks to those two distractions she had.

Maggie, Carl and Beth announced that they wanted to test more but they figured a break would be better, that way they could think of their weaknesses and maybe think of other ideas they could go over to train. No arguments came from the group as they sat around to drink some water while Merle and Rick got ready to take over watch from Michonne and Glenn.

Carol had other plans, however. When no one was watching she grabbed Daryl and pulled him out of the way of prying eyes. She instantly threw her arms around him, trying not to hurt his arm. "I did it!"

He chuckled and wrapped his arm round her. "I saw."

"I mean, that tree was _huge_," she went on. "And I was so close to giving up on that last group. And not to mention the Judith thing, I can't believe I stepped that far away."

"You're stronger than ya think."

"Really?" she asked brightly.

"Oh yeah, you don't think so?"

"I'm not sure, out there will be different," she whispered.

"Then you'll never go out without me, until you feel better of course."

"Can I have you with me even when I do?"

He nodded. "I can make it work."

She reached up and kissed him once. "I've not had this much of a high in a long time."

"I like it," he smiled, eyes roaming over her.

"Come on," she said, grabbing his hand. "We need to go back to the others before I make a fool of myself."

* * *

_R&R_


	11. Chapter 11

Daryl grabbed Carol's hand tightly and tugged her back towards him. She gasped as she was spun round and pulled tightly against him. He brought his lips crashing down on hers, taking her by surprise. She tentatively kissed him back, carefully placing a hand on his good shoulder. He was more sure this time, ready. He was used to this now. He was comfortable with Carol and he had to admit that he'd become quite familiar with kissing her.

Carol could sense the confidence that radiated off of him and it made her even happier. She relaxed into him as much as she could. She restrained herself for now, not letting herself nibble on his bottom lip or explore him further with her tongue. She brought her other hand up to tangle itself in his hair. He let out a slight moan as she tugged on it slightly. She tried to smile but instead a gasp escaped her lips as she felt his tongue gently prod and run along her lower lip. She carefully parted her lips, not wanting to frighten him. He slowly, a little unsure, reached his tongue out. She brought hers out to meet his but as soon as they touched he pulled back.

"Sorry," he mumbled, cheeks turning a light shade of red.

"For starting it or ending it?"

"Well, if it was bad then for starting it."

"It wasn't bad, so you don't have to be sorry for starting it," she assured. "And don't be sorry for ending it either."

"So I can do it again?" he grinned.

"Whenever you want to," she nodded, smiling back.

She grabbed his hand again and pulled him towards their little apartment. When they got up she left him in the living room while she went into the bedroom to change. Running around like a mad woman for hours had left her feeling grubby. She was careful with the water as she used it to freshen herself up slightly before pulling on some clean clothes. When she went out into the living room again Daryl was stood there waiting for her. He smiled at her and the two of them headed back down to everyone else.

* * *

After dinner the group decided to spend some time outside. They got Judith to sleep, Merle and Andrea went on watch and everyone freshened up before they met back outside. The brought out blankets and deck chairs that they'd found. Carol and Daryl perched theirs down, Rick sat beside Daryl, then there was Carl, Michonne, Glenn, Maggie, Hershel and Beth with Judith fast asleep in her Moses basket between Beth and Carol. The group relaxed and started to talk, they created a small and contained fire in the center of them. It wad big enough to keep them warm but not big enough to draw any attention.

As some time passed Daryl noticed Carol start to shiver. They were close enough so he grabbed a spare blanket and threw it over the both of them. It didn't look too strange, other members of the group were also sharing blankets, so no one questioned Daryl or Carol for sharing one. And seen as no one had questioned them yet, Daryl carefully held Carol's hand in his underneath the blanket. He squeezed her hand a little when he noticed her start to smile. She squeezed his right back, and thread their fingers together so that she could hold his hand properly.

"You're getting brave, Dixon," she whispered, keeping her eyes on the fire.

"I'd say I'm gettin' comfortable."

She smiled a little to herself. "Comfortable is good."

"Well you must be doin' somethin' right."

"I don't remember teaching you to pull me back and kiss me like that."

"I only learn from the best."

She felt a heat rise up in her and she knew that her cheeks had turned an obvious shade of red. She caught Daryl smiling as he watched the fire. She squeezed his hand as she kicked his leg. He bit down on his bottom lip in an attempt not to shout out. He glared at her and subtly tried to rub the leg she'd kicked with the foot from the other leg. It failed and she knew it, so she kept a tight grip on his hand. He couldn't use the other hand because of the sling so there was no way she was letting him use his good hand.

"You're gonna pay for this," he warned.

She grinned, not even trying to mask it. "I look forward to it."

* * *

Carol woke up the next day to crying. She cursed herself for offering to take Judith for the night so everyone at the Grimes house could have a break and a decent night sleep. It wasn't exactly a horrible time but even in the middle of a zombie apocalypse Carol didn't exactly like getting up early when the only people who would be awake were those on watch. She shuffled out of bed and headed over to the Moses basket. Carol reached in and lifted Judith out, instantly she stopped crying.

"What's going on?" Daryl grumbled.

"Judith is awake."

"Told you we shouldn't have had her over night."

She adjusted Judith so Daryl could see her face. "Would you say no to this?"

"I feel like you and the baby are tag teamin' me."

"Is it working?"

"I'm not gonna answer that."

"We should work together more often," she whispered to Judith before raising her voice so Daryl could hear. "What do we girls need to do around here to get your help?"

"Depends on what you want," he mumbled, eyes closed again.

"She needs a bottle but I don't want to let her down to do it."

"Fine," he grumbled, shuffling off of the bed. "Anything else your majesty?"

"Kiss me," she said, not missing a beat.

He chuckled and pecked her lips before leaving the room. She settled herself down on the edge of the bed and continued to rock Judith lightly. Daryl took a little longer with the bottle but eventually he was back in the room and handing it to Carol. She took it and the bottle barely touched Judith's lips when she started to drink. Carol tried not to laugh as she attempted to soothe Judith into drinking slower.

Daryl tried not to laugh at her either as he watched her drink, finishing the bottle off in record time. Daryl took the bottle and went to clean it while Carol did everything she could to make sure Judith really was OK after drinking so much so fast. When she was sure Judith was OK and would keep the milk down Carol laid her carefully into the Moses basket again. Judith gurgled and reached up, Carol hoped she'd sleep for another couple of hours considering she'd woken up a few hours back wanting a bottle.

"That girl drinks way too much."

"Like I said, are you going to say no?"

"No," he chuckled. "But at least she doesn't get up as much now."

"Sometimes she doesn't wake during the night at all," Carol said, remembering the talks she'd had with Rick. "Maybe it was the change in environment."

"Well it looks like she's driftin' off," Daryl commented. "Maybe we should leave her in peace."

"And why should we do that?"

"I'll show ya."

He grabbed her hand and pulled her from the room. She closed the door over but left it open enough so she would hear Judith. Daryl led her over towards the couch but before they sat down he had her pulled against him and his lips were on hers again. Carol carefully pushed him back to sit on the couch. As she sat down beside him he turned so that his back was against the arm of the couch. He crossed his legs and she shuffled as close as she could, leaning in to press her lips to his.

As he became more sure and his tongue came out to meet hers he didn't pull back. They both tried to keep themselves in check as he carefully and unsurely massaged Carol's tongue with his own. As they kissed she shifted to kneel on the couch, he stretched his legs out so that they lay on either side of her. As he pressed his lips harder against hers she moved herself to straddle him. His legs came back together and he sank further into the couch so that he was lying down with his top half propped up only slightly.

Daryl instinctively gripped her hip with his good hand as she placed her hands on the couch on either side of him. She leaned down and resumed kissing him. She carefully nibbled on his bottom lip, causing Daryl to buck his hips up against her. She tried not to react to the contact it caused, wanting to see what his reaction would be. He didn't say anything, but instead kissed her again, this time a little more intense. She took a leap of faith and nibbled on his lip again. He bucked his hips again and she subtly moved her own hips to cause a little more friction. This time he wasted no time in kissing her back, hand running up her back, just under her shirt. Carol smiled into the kiss as he experimentally ground himself into her.

"Wow, whoa, OK, wow, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean- I'll just go and wow."

Daryl instantly tried to sit up and Carol backed away until they were on either end of the couch. Carol twisted round to see Beth standing there. One hand over her eyes as she reached out with the other to try and get to the front door.

"Beth, wait," Carol said urgently. "You can open your eyes."

"Are you decent?"

"We're dressed if that's what ya mean," Daryl mumbled.

Beth peered through her fingers. "It looked like you guys were..."

"Yes, well," Carol coughed awkwardly, cheeks burning red as she stood up. "It was nothing."

Beth dropped her hand. "Where's Judith?"

"Sleeping," Carol explained, indicating the bedroom.

"Oh, good," she nodded. "I came to see if you needed any help with her... Are you two... Together?"

Daryl rolled his eyes at the grin that slowly formed on Beth's face. "None of your business."

"Ignore him," Carol assured. "We are... But we don't want anyone to know."

"Why not?!" she demanded. "This is great news! We should tell everyone!"

"What part of we don't want anyone to know do you not get?" Daryl grumbled, getting up off of the couch.

"It's just not the right time yet," Carol cut in. "_Please_ keep this to yourself."

"Agree to take care of Judith more often so I can train and we have a deal." Daryl looked at Carol for an answer when Beth spoke again. "That request is for both of you."

"Why should I look after Judith?" he asked, bewildered.

"Because if both of you help look after Judith then I have more time to train, I really want to go on a run and have more watch duty," she grinned, innocently curling a strand of hair around her finger. "I mean, if you want I can just go down and tell the others about what I just saw."

"We'll do it," Carol said hastily.

Beth squeaked out a thanks and ran from the apartment. When Carol turned to Daryl he raised an eyebrow and said, "did she just blackmail us?"

* * *

**A/N: **_I figured it was time somebody knew about them for sure :p As always you guys are awesome, there will be more chapters like the last one where they all work together and stuff but I wanted a break filled with a bit of Caryl_

_R&R_


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: **_I'm so sorry, I meant to get this out on Saturday but I was having trouble with the site and it wouldn't let me :( But hey, now it's up, before we get onto it I just wanted to say WOW,__ I did not expect that reaction to the last chapter! My mind is literally blown, seriously, thank you all so much! The beginning of this chapter takes on a slightly serious tone but that's only because I listened to another Norman Reedus interview where he spoke about how Daryl would be quite clueless and probably cry in a corner when it came to women, so I had to listen to the Reedus, I mean who wouldn't? But I hope you enjoy and I promise it doesn't stay too serious for too long :p_

* * *

Daryl took a few steps back, still trying to wrap his head around the fact that Beth Greene had just blackmailed him. Carol watched him as he moved, having no indication as to what he might be thinking. She thought a whole spectrum of things, ranging from the very worst scenario to the very best. When he ran a hand over his face and let out a small groan she knew she had to say something.

"Daryl?"

"Don't people ever knock?"

"I'm sure she meant no harm."

"Did you not hear her just now?" he asked in disbelief.

"OK, I don't think she set out to cause any harm," she amended.

"You think she'll keep quiet?"

Carol knew neither of them were ready for the group to know, especially Daryl but the fact that he seemed so worried, no terrified, of them knowing stung a little. "Would it be so bad?"

"You want to keep it quiet too," he reminded.

She let out a sigh as she sat back down on the couch. "I know, I'm sorry, just thinking out loud."

"Right," he nodded.

"Come and sit down?"

"Maybe later."

She twisted further in her seat to look at him but he was already heading into the bedroom. She laid back against the couch. Well he didn't seem angry which was good in Carol's books, he just seemed scared, understandable. She tried to convince herself that she had nothing to worry about as best as she could but it honestly wasn't working for her. Giving in she stood up and headed for the bedroom door. She knocked once, twice and then let herself in.

Daryl was pacing, talking quietly to himself. He didn't stop so Carol just slipped in and sat on the bed. She watched him but he just kept on at whatever he was doing, not even glancing her way. After some time he sat down beside her.

"That was different earlier," he whispered.

"Different good?" she questioned. "Or different bad?"

"Good," he decided, "definitely good."

"I didn't know nibbling on your lip would cause quite that reaction."

"Sorry," he mumbled, gaze instantly falling to the ground as he blushed.

"No, don't be," she said quickly, hand resting on his leg. "I want to know what you like."

"What I like?" he asked sceptically.

"In every sense," she explained. "Like everything from liking your lip nibbled to what your favourite food is."

"You mean besides squirrel?"

She fell back onto the bed with a laugh. "Yeah, besides squirrel."

He fell back onto the bed beside her. "Just give me a pack of cigarette, some good alcohol and my loaded crossbow and I'll be fine with just that."

"You should really quit," she said quietly.

"Quit what?"

"Smoking," she mumbled. "I would say the drinking but I guess it's a luxury to even have the chance to get drunk these days."

"It's a luxury to be able to smoke too."

"It's easier though, you can still smoke and do your job," she argued. "But it's just as bad for you, if not worse."

"Is this one of those things I have to do because we're in a relationship?"

She chuckled a little. "A while back I never would have thought I'd hear you say 'relationship' when referring to yourself."

"Shut up, I'm trying."

"I know," she said seriously. "And no, it's not one of those things. I'd prefer you didn't smoke but we all have our things I guess, something that gets us through"

He gave a small nod. "You know, we never did do that celebration you went on the run for."

"I know, with the haze of everything people just forgot, and I think it's a good thing."

"Missing out on the chance to let loose in this world is not a good thing," he disagreed.

"No, I mean I figured we could wait until we got somewhere solid with all this training and trial stuff," she explained. "Give us something big to celebrate. We would have been here a while by then so it'll feel even more like home and hopefully will still be just as safe."

"Yeah, I do hope this one lasts," he said thoughtfully. "I like it here."

"We just can't be too safe," she reasoned. "And we're not, we're being careful while still allowing ourselves the chance to relax."

"Well, now I know what you like to do when you _relax_," he said, smirk firmly in place.

She pushed him a little. "I didn't hear you complaining!"

"Didn't really give me much of a chance."

"Oh, really?"

He started laughing as she went to get up. He quickly reached out and pulled her back. "I'm kidding."

She rolled onto her side to face him. "I know." She smiled. "I like it."

"I came in here because I was scared," he admitted, voice a lot quieter now. "We weren't even really doing anything and I felt… Well, I felt like I was going to explode. We still had our fucking clothes on and it was _nothing_." He placed his hand over his face. "I thought it would be just as bad when you came here, that's why I didn't even pay you any attention when you first came in."

Carol watched him carefully as she tried to work out her next words. She didn't want to be too specific or even too graphic, she wanted to save him as much embarrassment as she could. "Is that why you're so worried about moving too fast or getting to that point? Because you might not last?"

He peaked at her through his fingers. "And the fact that I might as well be clueless. I know the concept and I can guess the rest but…"

"But nothing," she argued, tugging his hand away from his face. "You seemed pretty sure before."

"You started it."

"I did," she agreed. "And I'm happy to keep starting it when it seems right, but you got pretty into it, don't be afraid of that."

"Even if I can only offer you two seconds of pleasure?" he mumbled.

She shuffled closer to him. "It'll be longer than that and even if it's not I don't care."

"We shouldn't be talking about this in front of the baby," he whispered.

She smiled at him. "She's sleeping, she's fine."

"I know what we promised Beth but I get you to myself tonight," he decided. "No arguments."

* * *

Carol sat at the table, Judith in her lap. She showed all the different coloured and numbered blocks to Judith, attempting to try and at least try and teach her something. Although her other motive was to keep herself busy so she wouldn't think too much about having Daryl to herself later on that night.

"Ain't it a bit early for that?"

She smiled at Rick as he sat down in front of them. "Early as in the time or as in her age?"

"Her age," he said as he allowed Judith to grip his finger.

"There's not much else to do, guess we might as well try while we have a spare moment here and there."

"Thought Beth was looking after her."

"No, I offered to look after her now and then," Carol informed. "Daryl might help too seen as he can't do much with his arm."

"Well she's in good hands either way," Rick said happily as he gently waved Judith's arm, making her giggle.

"This place has been good for us," Carol said quietly. "You and Carl seem happy now."

"I guess getting away from that prison was what we needed," Rick agreed. "It's more open here but it still feels safe."

"So we're staying?"

"As long as we can," he confirmed.

"Well, I wonder if Daddy is going to spend the day with us," Carol said, directing her question at Judith. The little girl just looked at her, wide eyed and blowing a spit bubble so Carol pulled her into a hug so that they were both looking at Rick.

"Do you two pull this trick on everyone?"

"Just you and Daryl," Carol said happily. "But please let it work, I love her and everything but she's happy enough to occupy herself, _please_ stay here for a while."

He tried not to laugh. "Where's everyone else?"

"Merle came back from a hunt so Daryl is helping him as best as he can," Carol explained. "Glenn, Maggie and Michonne are on watch. Andrea took Beth and Carl to fish and Hershel final got a moment to really check out all that medicine we brought back."

"Yeah, thanks for that," Rick nodded. "You girls brought back a lot of stuff."

"No one thought to check the prescriptions so I grabbed as much as I could," she shrugged. "Might be worth nothing."

"Don't be so hard on yourself," Rick argued. "I walked passed Hershel earlier and he looked pretty happy if you ask me."

That did make her feel a little better, when she was out on that run she just went on instinct and didn't really think that she could have wasted time or energy, but knowing that Hershel seemed pleased made her feel like she'd made the right choice.

She watched as Rick played with Judith who giggled and squirmed on her lap. She kept at least one arm round Judith completely so that she wouldn't fall. She laughed as Rick started pulling faces and Carol couldn't help but laugh either. Partly at how ridiculous Rick looked and partly because of how infectious Judith's laugh was.

"Were you like this with Carl?"

"I guess so," he said thoughtfully. "Long time ago though."

"Well, now you get to do it all over again," she said cheerfully.

"Do I?" he frowned. "You and Beth have probably done more for her than I have. Hell, I was so lost when she was born that Daryl had to go on a run so she wouldn't starve. Another man might be the reason she's here in the first place, and a different guy made sure she stayed."

"You were grieving," she argued. "And you love her even though Shane may play a part."

He nodded. "No point in worrying, we'll never know, and plus, she's adorable right?"

"Yeah, definitely didn't get that from Shane, it's all you."

"I was gonna say it was Lori," Rick laughed. "But I'll take a compliment where I can get one."

"You know if you wanna spend some more time with her and Carl you just have to say," Carol reminded. "We'll take over any of the duties, hell, Beth and I won't mind if you want to look after her instead of us."

"I feel things dying down," he said thoughtfully. "And I see her after we all go to our own places so I can wait a little longer, see if things die down even more."

"Tell you what," she smiled. "My legs are numb from sitting here all day, you keep an eye on her while I walk it off, give you some more time with her."

Rick eagerly took Judith from Carol. She smiled down at the pair as she slowly stepped away. When she heard Rick talking quietly to Judith she picked up her pace, heading straight towards the showroom house to speak with Daryl. She planned to tell him that they may have even more time to themselves now that Rick might be on board to spend more time with Judith.

When she got there he was surprisingly helping to skin the squirrels Merle had caught. He was a bit slower and Merle had to start each one off for him but he got it done as well as he would've done with both hands. She shook her head when she spotted him using his bad arm a little to help tug back the bits of fur and skin that got stuck. The face of pain he pulled didn't last long so she figured that meant he really was healing up faster than anyone would have thought.

"You're blocking my light," Merle said gruffly.

She rolled her eyes as Merle dramatized her standing there. "I wanted to see how you boys were doing."

"Thought you had Judith," Daryl pointed out.

"Yeah, she's with Rick for the moment."

"What's he meant to be doing?"

"Nothing I don't think," she shrugged. "He came over and me and Judith got him to stay."

"I should never let you near that kid again," Daryl said, shaking his head slightly.

"Just because we get our way."

"Using the most unfair method there is!"

"Hey, either keep skinning or take your old married couple talk somewhere else," Merle said, completely stopping either of them from talking.

"Yeah," Beth's voice came, seemingly out of nowhere. "Maybe you two should go and _talk_."

"You smell like fish," Daryl said, warning tone in his voice. "Move on."

"Well I came to see if you guys would mind helping us get this fish ready for dinner," Beth said thoughtfully. "But then I heard you two talking about Judith and Merle's comment came out…"

Daryl shot her a warning look but it was Carol who spoke. "We're talking just fine here, and the boys will be over as soon as they've done this to help you guys with the fish. We should have plenty to eat tonight if we're quick about it."

"I don't see you picking up a knife to help," Merle grumbled.

Daryl kicked him and glared causing Merle to grin as he looked between the two of them. Carol quickly grabbed Beth's arm and pulled her away from the brothers. They got a few steps away when the girls heard Daryl groan and Merle start to laugh. Carol just knew that Merle had made a comment. Maybe she and Daryl weren't as good at keeping secrets as they thought.

* * *

_R&R_


	13. Chapter 13

After dragging her away Beth had gone to wash up while Carol went to figure out what they were going to have for dinner. Once Beth was done washing up Carol was surprised that the girl came to sit with her. Rick was so occupied with Judith so babysitting wasn't what Beth wanted. Instead she brainstormed some ideas for dinner. With the meat that Merle and Daryl had gotten and the fish that Andrea, Beth and Carl had gotten it wasn't exactly an easy choice. In the end they decided to split the fish_ and_ the meat among everyone with some beans on the side. With all the food they would already have on their plates they would go through less tins. It would be the best meal they'd had in a long time so how it was prepared probably wouldn't matter too much to the group.

"Why did you help me with this?" Carol asked, trying not to sound ungrateful. "You caught it, no need to help with this process."

"My lips are still sealed," Beth whispered. "But why won't you tell anyone about you and Daryl?"

"Neither of us is ready," Carol sighed. "I was in a relationship for many years with a man who didn't treat me right, in this world we need something good so having this relationship is like killing two birds with one stone. I want to keep it to myself for a while, plus, Daryl isn't ready for everyone to know. We both want to work our way through this relationship till we get to a stage where we're confident and ready for others to know."

"I understand," Beth nodded. "Mind if I leave the actual cooking to you?"

"The boys, Andrea and Michonne will have the food prepared so I just have to make sure it's edible, easy enough."

"Well, shout me if you do need help," Beth called over her shoulder as she walked away.

* * *

If there was anyone in the world that Daryl didn't want to see, it was Beth. But that's just who came skipping up to him. He was happy at least that Merle was no longer with him. He knew for a fact his brother would have continued to make remarks about his relationship with Carol if Beth had been there to make her own comments.

"What do you want?" he asked gruffly, not even bothering to stop walking.

She hurried to keep up with him. "Please, can we just talk for a moment? A serious conversation?"

That made him stop. He turned around slowly, not really knowing what to expect. "Talk about what?"

"Carol is so happy," Beth smiled, easing into the conversation. "She feels like this the relationship she should have had instead of that husband of hers. I know for a fact that she's scared of this, of actually being happy but that's exactly what she is."

"I know," Daryl agreed. "I see it."

"But apparently you're not ready for everyone to know about you two," she went on. "And I'm thinking that maybe you haven't told Carol the real reason or all of the reasons why you won't tell everyone."

"Why do you care so much?"

"Carol is my friend," she shrugged. "And whether you like it or not we're all family. And seen as I'm the only person who knows about this relationship I'm the only one you can talk to."

"Why would I want to talk to ya?"

"Try it?" she pleaded. "This is something good that could lift our spirits, but I don't want it to if you're not completely in this."

"I am into it," Daryl said, running a hand through his hair as they started to walk again. "There's just a lot of stuff I've got to get used to."

"Used to? _Wait_, you've been in a relationship before, right?" Daryl gave her a 'what do you think?' look in response. "Well, you've been with women before so you're not completely at square one."

When he didn't answer and nervously kicked dust up she gawped. "You have been with a woman, right?"

"What do you know?" he snapped. "You're a kid, last I heard that Jimmy guy was your only boyfriend."

She recoiled slightly but continued on. "I'm not judging Daryl, I'm just surprised."

"Yeah, well." He let out a sigh, not even bothering to continue.

"Well if that is the case Carol doesn't seem to care," she smiled reassuringly.

"Maybe I ain't told her."

"Maybe not," she agreed.

"She don't mind," Daryl mumbled, admitting that he had told her. "That's what she said."

"Then why are you so scared for everyone else to know?"

"I ain't good enough for her," Daryl shrugged.

And just like that Beth understood. "Why wouldn't you be?" she asked seriously.

"Look at me," he laughed, motioning to himself. "Before all this any Dad would've shot me where I stood. And that would've been before I even got within fifteen feet of their daughters. The only women I ever got a chance of getting with were Merle's seconds, women who would gladly pay for it, women who would have to be drunk, the kind who even if they were still Daddy's little girl, they wanted to rebel."

"Yeah, that was _before_ all of this." He glanced up at her curiously. "But from what I've heard and seen, you've changed. I was so scared to go near you when you first came to the farm. It was wonderful you looking for Sophia but you were so bitter and loud. I heard you were worse before coming to us and I couldn't believe it. But look at you now. Rick trusts you to take over for him if it comes to that, Carol loves you, your brother is trying because of you, everyone listens to you, you've got some skill, you're considerate. Do you want me to go on?"

"Not really," he mumbled, feeling a little embarrassed.

"I'm a girl who quite frankly is still a little afraid of you but I think all of those things, imagine what Carol, a woman who loves you, thinks."

"Don't mean I'm good enough."

"Daryl, I care about Carol and I've never seen her this happy but she has to hide so no one will find out. If realising that you're good enough puts you a step closer than it's worth it. Talk to her."

"But if she realises I'm no good then she'll leave," he admitted. "I ain't ready for that."

"Fine, then talk to someone else, someone you trust."

"I hate ya now, y'know that, right?"

"I did this for Carol, I hate her having to cover her happiness up, she couldn't be happy once before, she deserves this.."

Daryl groaned, causing Beth to chuckle. She knew that was her main purpose. Thanks to Judith she'd grown closer to Carol and it had been good to see Carol get stronger and become more open. Sure Beth had seen Carol happy but she had never seen her this happy. Carol usually kept it covered up well but sometimes Beth noticed that happiness slipped through. It was rare so everyone else probably didn't notice or just dismissed it. Beth wanted her to be able to tell everyone so she could be openly happy, you didn't get that option much these days.

And Daryl knew that Beth was right. After all the shit she'd been through Carol deserved happiness and the chance to show it. But who was he meant to talk to? There was no one he could tell about this stuff and he didn't want to discuss this anymore with Beth. Every single one of these people were his family and he wouldn't mind having to spend time with any one of them but Beth was one he'd spent hardly any time with so something this important and personal just couldn't be discussed with her. Carol was a no. Glenn couldn't keep his mouth shut so no. Maggie would tell Glenn so no. No offence to him but Hershel would go religious and too meaningful so no. Carl was a kid and didn't seem like the advice giving type so no. Michonne was a definite no. That left Andrea, Rick and Merle. He groaned at the choices. A girl (the very thing he seemed to be afraid of), the guy he was jealous of a while ago and his brother. Not exactly the kind of choices that had him jumping for joy.

* * *

Luckily for Daryl dinner got in the way so he couldn't speak to anyone. Carol didn't seem to notice anything but Daryl spent the time over dinner watching her. She did seem a lot brighter, looking more alert. Whenever she caught his eye she'd smile. Every time she did Daryl felt a tingle go right through his body, but after a split second Carol had to drop the smile and make her face go blank, causing that tingling feeling to completely go away. After a while he noticed that smile faded quicker if someone was talking to her or when someone looked up at her. She really was hiding every bit of happiness that Daryl managed to give her and he hated it. If talking to someone helped him to get over himself and allow her to be happy then he'd do it.

"Where are you going?" Carol whispered, as he made to get up.

"Gonna find Rick," he shrugged.

"It's nothing serious, right?"

"No," he assured.

She gave him a brief smile as he pushed himself up from the table and headed towards the perimeter to look for Rick. He waited at the fence by the vantage point and eventually Rick came full circle to that point. He stopped short when he saw Daryl before continuing over to stand beside him. The two of them stood in silence for a bit. Rick knew that if it was important then Daryl would have said already so he just waited to see what it was instead.

"Carol was thinking about that celebration," Daryl said, deciding to take a different route instead of the straight forward one.

"Oh, yeah, we never got the chance for that."

"She said we should save it for after all this training."

"That's a great idea," Rick mused. "Carol does more for this group than most people think. She really is great, maybe we should toast her or something when we have the celebration, she really does deserve it."

Daryl felt that old jealousy bubble up again. He didn't like the way Rick seemed to really think about this with that far out look or the way he spoke about Carol. His brain was telling him that he was stupid for even thinking that Rick had an interest in Carol but a small voice in his head kept telling him that he would lose in an instant to someone like Rick.

"Yeah, I know," Daryl agreed. "I'll leave ya to think about it."

Without even waiting for Rick's response he started to climb the vantage point so he could try and speak to Andrea. When he got to the top he found her standing furthest away from the entrance. She didn't turn to look as he took a few steps forward.

"Hey," he started. "Can I talk to you?"

"About what?" she questioned, confusion laced in her voice. "Why me? Why now? Couldn't it wait?"

Daryl knew she wasn't being rude, just curious but she didn't seem like she was in the mood to talk to him at all so he just sort of snapped, "forget it!"

Andrea turned to him then, calling after him as he started to climb down from the vantage point again. Andrea and Rick had been a bust which left Merle as the only person who he could talk to. And that's exactly who was walking towards him. Daryl sighed as he kept walking to meet him halfway. He had to really think about this. Sure Merle was his brother but there as no way in hell he could talk about touchy feely stuff with him. But then again, if he phrased the conversation right then maybe Merle would just be happy that his brother was on the road to getting some, Merle didn't need to know how long that road actually was or that Darly planned to stay on it even after he reached the end of it, he just needed to know the details that would make him take Daryl seriously.

* * *

**A/N: **_I know I say this on near enough every chapter but I really mean it... You guys are awesome. :)_

_R&R_


	14. Chapter 14

"We're brothers, right?" Daryl asked as they leaned against the fence.

"Always thought of you as a sister."

"Fuck you," he snapped. "Be serious."

"Yeah, we are," Merle said, realising that this was heading towards something imporant. "You forget or somethin?"

"No... But that means that I can talk to ya and you can't judge, right?"

"Spit it out," Merle sighed. Serious or not, he wasn't into beating around the bush.

Daryl thought for a moment about how to phrase what he wanted to say. "What were you like when you were first with a woman?"

"Why? You finally getting some?" Merle asked, wriggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Just answer," Daryl mumbled, diverting his eyes away from his brother.

"This whole brother thing goes both ways, right? No judgin' or making comments, right?"

"Sure," Daryl said, surprised that his brother seemed to actually be taking this somewhat seriously.

"It was nerve racking," Merle admitted. "But it didn't take long for me to get Into the swing of things."

"How long?" Daryl asked, slightly afraid of the answer.

Merle shrugged before letting out a laugh. "'bout five seconds maybe, weren't long anyway. We're Dixons, you should know we're good with women."

Daryl sighed, he definitely was the exception to that. "Were you ever serious 'bout one?"

"You mean was I in a relationship?"

"Yeah," Daryl mumbled, too scared to look his brother in the eye.

"Hell no, why you askin' that?"

"Say you were," Daryl started. "Would you think you're good enough for her?"

"Probably not," Merle admitted. "I wouldn't let that stop me from gettin' any, but if I was serious about her l'd probably think I'm the worst thing for her."

"Oh," Daryl nodded. He was a Dixon just like his brother, and admittedly had a lot of the same qualities somewhere inside of him, if Merle could doubt himself around a woman then so could he.

"But, "Merle went on. "I wouldn't let that stop me, and Dixon or not, you're not like the regular sort."

"How not?"

"You give a damn," Merle said as if it were simple.

"Who says so?"

"Me, and the way you watch Mouse like it's Christmas morning or some shit," Merle chuckled.

"Fuck you," Daryl mumbled. "I do not."

"Sure ya don't," Merle nodded. "Must be somethin' serious."

"I never said there was anythin' to be serious about."

"You're asking me about relationships and shit," Merle laughed. "Either you're already fucking her but want to change _or_ you wanna impress her first."

"You don't know shit," Daryl mumbled as he pushed away from the fence and started walking.

"Aw, come on now," Merle called as he followed Daryl. "I'm only takin' an interest."

"Don't, you answered my questions, that's it."

"Nah, I've got a few of my own, what I said before, which one is it?" Merle asked. "Because I'm thinking that you're tryin' to impress her, the way you're asking me about relationships like they matter or some shit."

"Maybe they do matter," Daryl shrugged.

"Always knew you'd go soft on me some day."

Daryl stopped, running a hand over his face. "You actually helped me out just now, why?"

"I told you I'd try," Merle shrugged. "This seems serious enough to try with."

"Well, thanks," Daryl said awkwardly knowing that it had been many years since he and Merle had had a somewhat serious conversation.

"Now, so I don't go all soft like you," Merle started as they continued to walk. "You must've done _somethin'_ with her."

"I ain't tellin' you."

"C'mon, give me somethin'," Merle said, putting an arm around his brother's shoulders. "Gotta be somethin' about her, what she like? And I ain't talkin' about her personality."

"Hey, fuck you," Daryl snapped, pushing his brother away. "Never think of her that way again."

"What? She's a woman and I got needs," Merle shrugged.

"Merle, I'm warnin' ya," Daryl growled as he pushed Merle hard enough to make the older man stumble backwards.

Before Daryl could even think to shout another warning he found himself on the ground. He hissed out a breath as pain radiated from his bad shoulder. He looked around to see what had happened when Merle pinned him. The older Dixon was laughing and shaking his head at his brother. That confused Daryl, after pushing him Merle should've been pissed, not amused.

"You really have turned into a girl," Merle mused. "Fallin' in love and shit."

"Fuck you," Daryl mumbled, realising that his brother had said those things before about Carol just to get a reaction out of him.

"No, no, I see it," Merle went on, nodding his head. "Bein' all jealous and protective."

"Maybe she's just a friend."

"Nah, that Greene girl sees it too, or knows somethin'."

"Beth? Nah, she's a kid, just likes to stir up trouble."

"Ain't stirrin' up trouble if it's already there."

"Keep your mouth shut," Daryl half pleaded, half warned.

"Who am I gonna talk to?" Merle asked. "And plus, who's gonna believe me?"

Daryl let his head fall back onto the ground, letting out a low sigh as he did. Merle and Beth knew but were keeping their mouths shut, good. And he'd managed to have the conversation he'd set out to have, but honestly he was more confused than ever, having no idea if the conversation actually helped him at all or not.

* * *

Carol had watched the brothers from where she was dishing out the food. She had almost gone over when they started to fight but then she'd heard Merle laughing and she knew that things would sort themselves out. She watched as they conversed, every so often pulling her eyes away in order to see if she was putting the right amount of food on each plate. When both brothers got up off of the ground she set about making something for Judith.

She was just finishing that and pouring some drinks when the others all came over. Her eyes went to Daryl briefly just to make sure that it really was nothing before, and when she saw he was OK she let her eyes be pulled away and back to her food. She noticed that Daryl didn't sit beside her, but when she sought him out he gave her a smile.

All throughout dinner she tried to work out what on earth was going on. First, Daryl and Merle seemed to be fighting but it was nothing serious, then he doesn't sit with her but he seems happy and content. So it was nothing she did and it didn't seem like Merle did anything either but something had to have happened today, but it needed to have been something that didn't bother Daryl. It all hurt her head really. Especially when Daryl whispered "meet me at the apartment when you're done" after dinner.

She washed up the dishes as quickly as she could. She was sure that she didn't do them half as well as well as she should have but she wanted to go back to the apartment so that she could talk to Daryl.

"Daryl?" she called as she entered their small apartment.

"In here."

She spotted him in the living room, perched on the couch. As she stepped closer she spotted the can of beer in his hand, it must have been one of the drinks Michonne and Andrea had picked up. She sat down beside him she noticed two empty cans on the table with some unopened ones. Her eyes were on the can before they flitted up to his face with a qeustioning look. He only shrugged.

"I wanted some liquid confidence but I didn't want to get wasted."

"Liquid confidence for what?" she asked, feeling concerned.

"To be honest with ya," he shrugged. "I figured the physical stuff don't matter if we don't talk."

"You want to talk?" Carol couldn't help but sound hopeful.

"Yeah," he nodded, finishing the can and opening up his fourth.

"Where do you want to start?"

"The reason why we ain't tellin' people, the reason why we seem to be moving forward at such a slow pace."

She studied him then, trying to work out what he meant. Well, they'd been going at such a slow pace because he was uncomfortable with such contact and she hadn't experienced much like this herself, not with having spent most of her life with Ed. And as for not telling people well surely that was down to the fact that he was uncomfortable and this was new, they wanted to get used to it, be sure of what they were doing, get a handle on things. She didn't say anything, just stayed quiet and watched him as she tried to figure it out.

"I'm scared of losin' ya," he admitted. "I figure if we tell people then that makes it real and there's a good chance you'll realise how wrong I am for ya."

"Oh."

"I mean 'cause I am, I ain't boyfriend material, God if your Dad was here with you he would've shot me for even looking at you. And I know because Merle's had some close calls and I've had them too just for bein' his brother. Then you gotta just look at the other men round here, Rick for instance. He does just as much work as me but he dont' walk 'round with half the muck and grime on him that I do. Plus he ain't afraid of bein' with a woman or whatever."

Carol just sat back and let him go on and on about how he wasn't good enough for. Telling her all the reason from back in his old life to now, constantly comparing himself to the other male members of the group. So many times she wanted to cut in and stop him but she could see from the way his speech just seemed to rush out and his chest heaved that he needed to say it, she could always tell him once he was done that he was wrong, because she already knew that he was.

* * *

**A/N: **_Merle and Daryl's conversation was meant to be a lot different, more teasing from Merle and less serious, but I wanted Merle to be in the process of trying to change for Daryl's sake so I figured he'd at least try to take it seriously. Also, t__his was meant to be longer but I didn't want too much talking so Carol and Daryl's conversation will continue on in the next chapter :)_

_R&R_


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: **_Wow, we've gone passed 100 reviews and 100 follows! I'm so glad you guys liked the last chapter and seem to be enjoying this story. Thank you so much for all the follows, favourites, reviews and even those who are just reading it. :) _

* * *

Carol listened to Daryl go on and on. He went on for a long time, close to ten minutes if Carol had to guess. She had to admit she was slightly impressed that he hardly stopped to catch his breath, but as it drew closer to his declaration she wanted to cut in more and more. When he did get to the ten minute mark and had repeated himself more than once she'd finally had enough. Not even providing any sense of warning she leaned further over to his side of the couch. Her hand rested on his knee and she stopped him mid-sentence with a kiss.

The new can he had in his hand, the eighth and final one of the bunch, fell to the floor. He didn't move, just stayed completely still allowing her to kiss him. All the tension slowly eased from his body as she gently moved her lips against his, every so often snaking her tongue out to run along his bottom lip. When his heart rate lowered and his worry disappeared he finally kissed her back.

"What was that for?" he asked when Carol pulled back slightly.

"I wanted you to shut up."

"And that's what you came up with?"

"I wanted to make a point too," she admitted.

He hummed happily as her lips scraped over his. "Yeah?"

"I wanted to tell you you were wrong," she whispered. "About everything you said. Although admittedly I tuned out at times... But you were just making no sense. Some of those differences between you and the other men in this group are true but I don't want you to be the same as them. And yeah, maybe you weren't good for women before all this happened or maybe that was just Merle's reputation but you're certainly good enough for me. You're different now to what you were. Stop comparing yourself to how you used to be."

"What if I'm right?"

"I wouldn't be here if you were."

"So there's nothing wrong with me?" he questioned. "Nothing that will make you leave me?"

"You smell like bad beer." She sniffed, wrinkling her nose up a little. "But no, nothing that will make me want to leave you."

"There's nothing wrong with the beer," he smiled.

"I would let you prove it to me but you drank it all," she teased.

"Liquid confidence," he reminded.

"More like a push over the edge, I didn't think you were gonna shut up."

"I was worried."

She took his hand and squeezed "Then next time tell me, OK? Don't keep quiet until it bursts out."

"Well while we're being honest, Merle knows."

"I figured, so that's him and Beth."

"I bet everyone will know by the end of the week," he mumbled.

She chuckled lightly. "Say I disagree. What do I get when I win?"

He gently shook his head side to side, brushing his lips over hers. "We'll see."

* * *

Carol had her hands on her knees as she bent forward a little to try and catch her breath. Rick was pacing around, hand on his lower back as he too tried to catch his breath. They'd gotten back into practicing full force and everyone was stepping up a notch. It had been a couple of days since Daryl had had his outburst to Carol and training had consumed them all. They were now onto one-on-one training to perfect their skills.

They were all learning the same things, the pair correcting and complimenting each other. The pairs mixed up throughout the day so everyone could experience the different specialties from the different members. As it drew towards nightfall the pairings consisted of Carol and Rick, Merle and Carl, Glenn and Andrea, and Maggie with Beth and Michonne. Daryl sat on the sidelines watching with Hershel and Judith.

For Carol and Rick they decided to fight it out, see who could pin who first. They'd had six fights already and they were on an even score of three each. Now that she'd stopped Carol could feel the ache through her body, but she had to admit that she did feel better and a lot safer. When paired with Michonne she had learned how to be a lot quieter when making a move, with Glenn she learned to plan quickly, with Andrea she learned how to be quicker, with Merle she learned how to track a little, with Carl they taught each other more about handling guns and with Beth they taught each other more about handling their knives. All in all she felt like she'd learnt something and taught something.

"Can we keep the draw?" Rick breathed out.

"Yes," she said desperately. "I'm exhausted."

"I think we've all stepped up our game though," Rick comment as he stretched his arms out. "I feel bad that Daryl hasn't had the same extra training."

"It's Darly, he doesn't need it," Carol shrugged. "Merle doesn't either really."

"I guess they just did this kind of thing before the world went to shit."

She nodded her agreement as she sat down on the ground. "How good do you think we all are then?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "Definitely a lot better though."

"Could you send any of them on a run and be sure that they'd be OK?"

"I guess," he shrugged, sitting on the ground with her. "I mean the likes of Beth and Carl I'd be more comfortable if they had more people with them and they went on separate runs, just for their ages, but I think they have the skill now to handle most situations."

"Then I think we're good," Carol said happily. "Hershel could keep a note of the days that pass and we could come back to the training every three or four weeks or so."

"Yeah, keep us all up to shape, I like."

"For now though, we should relax a little."

"We still have all that drink you guys got, there's some snacks too we could use."

"You can round everyone up and tell them," she yawned, stretching out a little.

"Thanks," he sighed as he got up.

Carol laid down on the ground for a moment as he walked away. She stretched her body out, making it as long as it could go.

"I know I said I was scared but you keep stretchin' like that and even I'm not gonna be able to resist."

She opened her eyes to see Daryl standing by her head, looking down. She stretched a little further on purpose before bringing her arms back down to her sides, pulling her top down from where it had risen just above her belly button. She gave him an innocent smile as she sat up. He reached out his good hand and she took it, helping herself up. She dusted herself off and he just shook his head at her.

"Shouldn't be looking," she shrugged, smile forming.

"You make it hard."

She ran her eyes up his body, deliberately pausing on his crotch, before she turned and walked away. "Well, that's good."

"No- I- I didn't mean that," he said as he followed her. "Well, no you do make- But I- You do this on purpose."

She could just picture the pout on his face and it made her giggle. "I don't know what you mean."

"Sure ya don't," he mumbled. "You're just lucky I-"

She turned around, causing him to almost crash into her. "Lucky you what?"

He shrugged, nervously toeing the ground as his cheeks turned a light pink colour. "Nothin'."

She went up on her tip-toes and kissed his cheek. "I love you too, Daryl."

* * *

_R&R_


	16. Chapter 16

Daryl looked at her a little dumbfounded. His hand came up to touch his cheek carefully. She had gotten a few steps away when he finally started to follow her. As they walked he kept his eyes on her, watching her carefully. He only tore his eyes away when they got to the table where everyone was gathered together.

"There's no one on watch," Glenn commented.

"Someone can go on in a second, I just wanted to talk to you all about something," Rick explained.

"What's going on, Dad?" Carl asked curiously.

"Nothing bad," Rick assured."When Carol, Andrea and Michonne went on that run they got some snacks and drink. I figured we could go all out. Gather outside, set a fire up, have some food and drink."

"Two people will be left out 'cause of watch," Andrea reminded.

"I'll take watch," Michonne shrugged. "Drinking doesn't bother me."

"l'll take watch too," Merle spoke up.

Everyone looked at him in shock. Had he really just passed up the opportunity to drink? Carol had to admit that she was impressed, he really was trying to make an effort. Daryl smiled a little at his brother before talking.

"Who else ain't drinking?"

"Carl," Rick said, just as Hershel said, "Beth."

"Dad," they both groaned.

"World may be ending, but you're still under age."

Hershel nodded his agreement. "I won't be drinking either."

Maggie pointed at Glenn, Andrea, Rick, Carol and Daryl. "You lot better be drinking cause l am not drinking alone."

"You won't be," Carol assured when she saw Glenn's worried look. "Just some of us might take it a little easier."

"Good," Maggie said happily. "When is this happening?"

"I was thinking tomorrow," Rick shrugged. "I think we're all tired and I wanted to go on a quick run tomorrow morning. I need some things for Judith."

"Who are you taking?" Daryl asked.

"I was hoping to take Glenn."

Glenn shrugged. "What do you need?"

"Some baby food, mashing up what we have is great but not perfect," Rick sighed. "I also need some bigger clothes for her."

''Should be easy enough," Glenn decided. "We'll get the clothes first."

"Right, tomorrow, a little after dinner for this get together thing," Rick confirmed.

* * *

The run the next day went well, they managed to get some baby clothes as well as some bigger clothes for when she got a little older. They got some baby food and some formula to boot. Judith still loved her milk but normal milk couldn't exactly be refrigerated these days. Formula was the only way to ensure that she didn't get sick so they just stuck to formula. After they got back from the run Carol took the food so that Judith could be fed, bathed and put to bed before they all finished dinner. Seen as Judith could sit up with some help they were able to get her a high chair on a previous run so that she could sit in it to eat when she wasn't being too fussy.

Thankfully Judith chose not to be fussy so Carol was able to feed and bathe her with no issue. Putting her to sleep was a little harder but Carol still managed to eat her dinner with everyone else.

"You OK?" Daryl asked as he came up to the apartment to check on Carol. "Everyone is gathered in front of the houses."

"Sorry," Carol said as she came out of the bedroom. "Judith got some food on me earlier so I wanted to change."

He nodded his head as he nervously looked at her. "About what you said yesterday..."

"Oh." She smiled at how nervous he seemed. "I meant it, and you don't have to say it back."

"But I do."

"You don't, Daryl," she assured.

"No, not that, I do too..."

"Oh." She blushed when she realised that he was trying to tell her that he loved her.

"Say something," he pleaded.

"I already told you that I love you, "she reminded. "So, I'm not going anywhere."

He sighed with relief. "I do wanna say it."

"I have no doubt." She kissed his cheek. "But it's enough just now to know."

Without any warning Daryl grabbed Carol's arm and pulled her as close to him as he could. His lips were on hers before she could even think to utter a word. He backed her up into the wall. His knee went between her legs, keeping her pinned. As his good hand rested on the back of her neck, her hands gently laid on his arm that was still in the sling. He was running on pure instinct and the memory of what he'd seen before, but he figured it was working from the way she kissed him back and tugged lightly on the sling.

He decided to take the risk and be brave. She loved him and said she wasn't going to leave. Surely she wouldn't go to all that trouble just to hurt him? At least that's what Daryl hoped, so he snaked his tongue out to gently run along her bottom lip until she opened up for him. When she did he brought his hand down from her neck. He fingered the bottom of her top, wrapping the fabric around his finger and tugging gently every so often. As she applied pressure to the kiss he unravelled his finger and gently guided his hand up under her shirt. He didn't want to do too much too soon so he rested his hand on her bare side, every so often trailing the tips of his fingers between her back and her stomach.

He pulled away slowly, nibbling her bottom lip as he did. Carol nervously bit her lip as she tried not to grin wildly. Daryl almost opened his mouth to apologise when she spoke. "What was that for?" she asked, a little breathlessly.

"I wanted to," he shrugged. "Should I not have?"

"Oh no, I'm glad you did," she smiled happily. "You just took me by surprise."

"I figured I'm safe with you," he told her. "So I really wanna step it up and try to take more risks."

"Well no more tonight," she chuckled, taking a hold of his hand. "We need to get down to everyone before they come looking for us."

* * *

For their little relaxation/celebration they made a small contained fire to make sure everyone stayed warm. They all then sat chairs around the fire while Merle and Michonne went off to start their shift on watch. Snacks (small foods like peanuts and chips) were put into bowls and drink was piled up between Hershel and Rick's chairs. Everyone settled quickly, finding a seat, munching away and sipping their favourite drinks from the pile. As the night wore on everyone took pity on Carl and Beth so both were offered one drink and one drink only to try.

As the night wore on even more Beth took to singing, having intervals every so often where she only played the acoustic guitar that Glenn had picked up some time ago. Earlier on in the night Glenn played a little too before he got too captivated by the drinks. While Beth choose a slower and less challenging song to give her voice a little break Maggie dragged a drunk Glenn up to dance. It was supposed to be an intimate slow dance but Glenn was too unstable to make it work. Seen as Beth was the one singing Carl walked over to Andrea and held his hand out for a dance, causing her to laugh and take a hold of it. The others watched the two pairs with a laugh, especially Glenn. As they watched Rick also got up, he made his way over to Carol.

"I'd ask someone else," he started. "But I don't think Daryl would want to and I'm not so sure Hershel would be any good on one leg."

"You really know how to convince a girl."

"I'm only kidding, c'mon."

She rolled her eyes a little but still took his hand. Now they were able to dance properly unlike Glenn. Carol let Rick lead and she just relaxed and enjoyed herself. Once that song was over Beth played a slightly more upbeat sounding tune on the guitar which the girls danced too. When Beth started to sing Iris by Goo Goo Dolls the pairings started up again. This time Rick danced with Andrea, Carl with Maggie and Glenn with Carol. Still not feeling too good on his feet and she not feeling too energetic, Carol and Glenn opted for a more casual and slower dance.

However, Glenn wasn't exactly stable enough for that either. He stumbled close enough to Carol so that he could slightly put his arms around her while they danced, he meant to rest his hands on her lower back but he misjudged and one of his hands accidentally grazed her bum ever so slightly. But to Daryl there was nothing accidental about it, at least he didn't notice if there was, all he saw was another guy's hands on his woman. So Daryl got up and made his way over to the pair. He pushed Glenn away, luckily it wasn't too hard and it didn't look like much, he managed to stop himself from reacting further when he felt Carol's hand on his arm. Instead he turned to face her, pulling her in for a dance.

"That was silly," she whispered.

"I can't be all over you out here," he mumbled. "It's not fair when others, Glenn for example, get-"

"An accidental graze every so often?" she guessed.

"Sorry," he sighed, laughing a little at himself. "Guess after that kiss I just missed ya."

"You get me all to yourself tonight, " she whispered in his ear.

He felt shivers run through his whole body as her breath fanned across the side of his face and her words sunk in. His arm tightened around her slightly and he let out a slight growl.

* * *

**A/N:** _hey beautiful people, thanks again for the love and interest! Just to warn you guys my laptop isn't working so I have to use my tablet for updates. Typing isn't as easy on that so if there is any mistakes or the updates aren't as long/often then that's why. But I do plan to try and update as much as possible._

_R&R_


	17. Chapter 17

After pushing Glenn away Daryl didn't leave Carol's side all night. He danced with her, sat with her and talked with her. Anything to make sure that he had an excuse to be around her so much. Whenever she did slip away to dance or talk with one of the others he watched her, never being apart from her for too long. In his head he was counting down the hours, the minutes and the seconds till both he and Carol went back to their little apartment. It felt so _real_. And sure it was, but it felt like the horror right outside their front door wasn't happening. He was dating the woman he loved and he was living with her, wasn't that what people in the real world did before all of this?

As the night started to near its end things wound down slightly. The drunks' messy movements just became sloppy and those who were OK on their feet just became lazy. It was clear that everyone was tired. Thankfully they had started their little celebration a little late which meant that Michonne and Merle would be good for a couple more hours so the next two on watch could get a couple of hours before it was their turn.

"What are you two doing off watch?" Rick asked.

Everyone turned to see Merle and Michonne walking towards them. They didn't look angry so they hadn't gotten into a fight, and they didn't look worried so it seemed like nothing bad had happened.

"Ran out of water," Michonne shrugged, holding up her empty water bottle.

"We saw the fire dyin' out, figured we'd come now while everyone's up," Merle added.

Rick nodded his head while Michonne went to fill the water bottles up. Carol finished her conversation with Rick so that he could go and help Michonne out and make sure she knew that he and Andrea would take over watch in a couple of hours. Carol was left with what remained of the alcohol. She sipped carefully, finishing off her drink as she separated the bottles into those that were full, those that still had some in and those that were empty and ended up back in the pile.

She wasn't alone long when she felt someone beside her. Her eyes drifted briefly to the left to see that it was Merle. She didn't say anything only started to put the bottles that still had some drink in them into a box. As she worked Merle picked up a bottle. Carol didn't say a word, only continued on and waited for him to open it up. But to her surprise he reached over and put it in the box before doing the same with the rest of the pile.

"I thought you were going to drink that," she admitted once they'd finished packing.

"I know," he said gruffly. "I promised though."

"No one would blame you if you did, so long as you controlled yourself."

"That's the problem, not sure I could."

She smiled in understanding. "I find men are more appealing when they don't drink themselves silly."

"I know I was high most of the time but even I saw how much of a pig that husband of yours was."

Carol quickly brought her hand up to wipe at her eyes before she even had a chance to start quieting. She suspected that it may be because of the alcohol she'd consumed, it had been a while. Then part of her knew it was because Merle was being nice to her. Why was he being so nice?

"Yeah, seems everyone saw it but me."

"Don't give me none of that," Merle said, a little stern. "You saw it alright, you just didn't want to believe. Especially with that girl of yours."

"Maybe," she whispered.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, nervously rubbing his neck. "About what he did, and your little girl, but Daryl's one of the good ones."

"I know," she assured him.

"He came to me for advice. _Me_," Merle laughed. "He's all worried you don't love him or some shit."

"He already spoke to me." She tried not to smile at the memory of his outburst. "And it makes sense that he went to you Merle, you're his brother and he respects you, he might even look up to you. Probably always has."

"I don't know about that," Merle mumbled. "But I'm gonna be honest, he's the only thing I care about, only reason I'm here but seems he's extended the Dixon branch to you so I'm gonna do the same thing."

She finally turned to him then. Her hand rested on her hip as she gave him a quizzical look. "What are you saying?"

"I'm probably never gonna be this nice to ya again," Merle sighed. "But what I'm trying to say is that Daryl loves ya, thinks of you as family, which means I guess I do too."

She playfully poked his chest. "Means you've got to be extra nice to me, right?"

"Daryl might be on a leash but not me," he grumbled.

"I don't expect you to be any different," she told him. "But its nice to know that you're OK with this whole thing."

He gave her a short nod before jogging over to where Michonne waited so that they could continue their watch. Carol placed the box of empty bottles onto top of the other one before carrying them towards the garage. She opened it up and set the boxes inside. She figured they would be safe here. As she came out from the between the two houses she spotted Daryl coming towards her.

She picked up the pace so she could meet him halfway. He held up the bowl of salt and vinegar chips with a small triumphant smile. She shook her head trying to suppress her laughter. Instead she swiped a few of them and started to eat. He pouted and protectively held the bowl against himself, giving her a look that said "I will attack if you try to touch my food again." It made it that little bit harder for her not to laugh after that.

"Merle and Michonne seemed to be getting on," Daryl commented as they headed towards the apartment. "I know they ain't best friends, but he's trying."

"I know he is." She touched his arm briefly as she walked a little ahead to get the door. "He spoke to me."

"'bout what?" he asked curiously.

"Us," she supplied as they entered the apartment. "I think he gave me his blessing."

"His blessing?"

"Well he told me that if you think of me as family then he does too."

Daryl practically dropped the bowl onto the ground as the words left her mouth. He sat down on the couch and waited for her to sit before he continued on. "Seriously?"

She nodded. "It seemed painful for him if that makes it better?"

"Yeah," Daryl chuckled. "Sounds more like Merle."

She smiled at him before pointing at the bowl. "Can I have some now?"

"Sure."

She grabbed a few from the bowl and carefully picked at them. She licked her lips between crisps, causing crumbs to stick to her lips. She finished all of them before she wiped her hands. Just as she put her tongue to the corner of her mouth to lick the crumbs away she was pulled towards Daryl. He lightly pressed his lips to hers before running his tongue along her lips, carefully wiping the crumbs away.

Her eyes fluttered shut. "Hmm?"

He chuckled as he grabbed hold of her hand. He stood and dragged her towards the bedroom behind him. As they entered the bedroom he kissed her again and this time she had the capability to kiss him back. They carefully walked backwards towards the bed, never letting go of each other. Carol hit the bed first. She broke the kiss and climbed into bed, Daryl following close to behind.

She had barely rolled onto her back when he was kissing her again. She kissed him back eagerly, trying to wrap the whole thing around her head. She could feel the hesitation in him but she could also feel how he wanted to get pass it and he did. His injured arm rested on her stomach, his hand near her chest. He ran his finger between her breasts, slowly up and down. She smiled into the kiss as he grew tired of the action and climbed properly on top of her. He held all of his weight on his good side so he caused himself no pain and didn't put all of his weight on her.

As they kissed Carol carefully trailed her hands down his chest, playing with his shirt. It surprised both of them that he hadn't pulled away yet. Both suspected it may be the alcohol but he honestly hadn't drunk that much so that would only really work as a boost. Carol suspected that it had something to do with the fact that she said she loved him, and Daryl suspected that it had something to do with the fact that things were finally falling into place for him.

Carol's hands had wandered lower and lower until they hit his belt. She drew her finger around the edge of the buckle as her index finger from the other hand hooked his belt loop. She tugged at it slightly as her tongue battled his but as soon as he groaned she stopped all movement and pulled away from him completely.

"Hey, no fair," he grumbled. "I gave you chips and everything."

She shook her head at him, trying to suppress a smile. "I want to, but we can't go much further with that arm in a sling. I know you'll push yourself too far. I mean, there's stuff we could do..."

"But you won't let me doing anything for you," he mumbled, rolling away and lying beside her.

"We'll talk to Hershel tomorrow, if he says it can come off then we can pick up tomorrow."

"And if it can't?"

She rolled onto her side and shuffled closer to him. She gently pressed her lips to his neck. "We'll find away around it."

* * *

**A/N: **_I _promise _that Carol and Daryl will get there at some point! It would have gotten so much further in this chapter but I found it hard to write with Daryl's arm in a sling, so soon things will progress a little further physically in their relationship!_

R&R


	18. Chapter 18

Hershel carefully prodded Daryl's shoulder. Both were happy to see that it didn't pain Daryl all that much. It looked good, no indication just by looking at it to say that it was injured at all. Hershel took the sling off completely and sat back in his chair. He studied the shoulder from where he was before he finally spoke.

"Try slowly rotating your shoulder."

Daryl did as he was told. He let his arm hang down by his side. He raised it straight up slightly, let it roll back then followed it through till the shoulder was back to the starting position. He kept doing it. He, Hershel and Carol didn't miss the look of pain as he rotated his shoulder. It wasn't unbearable, but it felt like something was tugging on his arm.

"It's not completely healed," Hershel sighed. "Keep it in the sling but I suggest either when you get up in the morning or before you go to bed you should rotate your arm like that. If it gets too much stop."

"Is the sling needed?"

"Yes." He gave a stern nod and helped Daryl to put it back on. "You've healed up fast, let's not rush this last bit. It's better for you in the long run."

"Sure," Daryl sighed.

Hershel finished tying his sling up before giving Carol a small smile and leaving.

Carol let out a sigh as she took up Hershel's seat. Daryl leaned back in his chair and watched. "What's that sigh for?"

"You." She motioned to him briefly. "That was good news and you're being miserable."

"I was hoping to get this off."

"Wow, I think I've created a monster," she teased

He bit his lip. "It's not about that, this is just annoying."

"Sure it is," she grinned.

"Stop smiling, woman."

But that only caused her to smile more. "Feeling a bit frustrated?"

"You're evil," he mumbled as he ran a hand over his face.

She chuckled and propped her feet up on the table.

* * *

Carol never thought in a million years she would get to this point in her life or in a relationship and she never thought Daryl would too, but they had and she was proud of the both of them. It felt like she had blinked and things changed. She suddenly noticed that Daryl was grasping for her hand when they were alone, that he was starting to initiate hugs and kisses more than she was, that he would pull her to him when they slept and that he was slowly coming out of his shell.

And never did Carol think she would be happy to have someone to talk to but she was. And that person was Beth. Carol was amazed that the young girl was so helpful and easy to talk to. Beth was eager to know about Carol and Daryl's relationship, it was something happy and exciting in the group, and Carol was honestly happy to tell. Daryl knew that she spoke to Beth and surprisingly enough he found himself telling Merle things. Who more surprisingly listened to them.

"We keep talking to Merle and Beth like this and someone is bound to overhear."

Carol smiled at that. The two of them were sat together while she cooked dinner, they were alone and able to be together for a bit. "I know, but if they over hear then it saves us telling them."

"We should tell them soon," he said thoughtfully.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I wanna leave it a bit but yeah."

"We'll find the right moment to do it."

"Until then I'm getting this thing off and I'm gonna treat ya right."

Carol couldn't help the smirk that appeared on her face at the thought of Daryl treating her right. She knew exactly how he meant it and it made her shiver with joy. She too now found herself frustrated about Daryl's sling. Part of her almost stopped what she was doing so she could rip it off of him but she refrained and instead listened to him as he continued to talk.

* * *

Things were going perfect surprisingly. Carol and Daryl were both surprised at how much time they got together. Out in the open she helped him skin what Merle hunted and he helped her cook it. When she was with Judith Daryl would drop by. No one questioned it and it meant they didn't have to wait till late to see each other.

It was when they were alone for real that Carol really noticed the change in Daryl. With his arm in a sling all they could really do was kiss, it ensured that they didn't get too carried away but Daryl definitely became more sure with himself. He soon became the one to tease her and as a week passed they were both eager to move on further with their relationship.

"People with one arm have sex all the time," he mumbled to Carol while they sat and waited for the others to join them for breakfast.

"Yes," she agreed. "But they usually have one arm missing, not one arm in a sling."

He rolled his eyes. "Just minor details, it's the same really."

"It hardly hurts when you roll your arm now, just a little bit longer."

"My balls are gonna fall off if I wait any longer."

Carol put her hand over her mouth and had to bite the palm of it to stop herself from laughing. Daryl smiled despite himself and also had to stifle a laugh as the others came to join them. Carol patted his knee sympathetically and he let out a sigh before digging in. She carefully drew patterns up and down his thigh with her finger. The closer she got to the top of the leg the less self control he had. He bit his lip as he felt a groan bubble up inside of him.

"Carol?"

She retracted her hand and looked over at Rick. "Yeah?"

"I was thinking of going on a run. Glenn and I found a store that had a lot of stuff in it the last time we went. I was thinking we should vote on who would go but you looked a little out of it."

"Sorry," she smiled. "But you saying that is quite funny. I was just thinking of some things I need. Things we all need."

"Oh, maybe you should be one of the people to go?"

She spotted Daryl tense beside her but she nodded. "Yeah, sounds good. Who else will go?"

"I'll go," Merle volunteered.

When she looked over she saw Merle watching Daryl, she knew he did it for his brother. "I'm OK with that. We might be OK just the two of us."

"Well if I or Glenn go then we can show you the shop," Rick explained.

"I'll go," Glenn sighed. "_If_ Merle listens to what I say."

"Don't get all worked up," Merle chuckled. "I'll listen just fine."

"When do we go?" Carol asked, trying not to look at Daryl.

"If you feel ready, today, if not, tomorrow."

"I'm ready," Merle shrugged and Glenn nodded in agreement.

"Can we leave in a couple of hours?" Carol asked.

"Sure," Rick agreed. "You'll still get back long before dark."

Carol smiled appreciatively before finishing up her breakfast. Once everyone was done she collected the dirty dishes and took them to the water filled basin. As she scrubbed the dirt off everyone left to continue on with what they needed to. The table was completely empty when Daryl came over to her. He sat across from her and just watched her.

She became uncomfortable but refused to speak. She just kept washing and then drying the dishes. He continued to watch her as she packed them away and set about getting things together for dinner in case they weren't back. She packed some lunch for her, Merle and Glenn so they had something to eat and drink while they were out.

Once that was all done a good twenty, thirty minutes had passed. She refused to talk, kept biting her lip when she nearly opened her mouth. She wasn't apologising, she had no reason to. So instead she got her knife out and checked it. It seemed sharp enough and after she cleaned it with the water it looked better too.

"Be careful."

She glanced up. He had been awkwardly sitting across from her for the past forty minutes or so and now he spoke, but he didn't say what she expected him to. "Excuse me?"

"I don't want ya to go, but I know you will."

She nodded. "I might as well do something."

"Then just be careful."

"Merle and Glenn will be there, I'll be fine."

"C'mon," he said as he stood up. "Might as well go now if everyone is ready."

"Daryl..." She whispered as she moved round the table to stand with him.

"Yeah?"

He turned and she quickly pressed her lips to his before stepping back. "Is there anything you want?"

"Nah, but I'm not apposed to gifts."

She chuckled and tugged his hand carefully before walking ahead of him. He smiled and just watched her for a moment before following her. He knew as soon as she was gone his eyes would be on the entrance waiting for her to come back.

* * *

_R&R_


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: **_All I'm gonna say is... I felt like it was about time. And the opportunity came up._

* * *

Daryl really did struggle to keep his eyes off of the fence. He couldn't exactly be that helpful anyway. He flitted between checking on Judith and helping Rick and Hershel with the inventory. He was so close to joining Andrea on watch or taking over patrolling the perimeter for Carl, but he kept his distance and only kept his eyes on the fence. He was back to fighting with himself again when dinner drew closer.

"I'm so glad Carol prepared dinner before she left," Andrea sighed, sitting at the table with him.

"Who's on watch?" he asked hopefully.

"Michonne, I said I'd bring our dinner up there."

"I could do that?"

"You just want something to do," she laughed.

"I can't hunt properly or nothin'."

She patted his arm lightly. "Poor baby."

He growled at her. "Let's dislocate your shoulder and see how ya feel."

She bit her lip so not to laugh. "I'm sorry. I bet this run can't be easy for you either."

"What makes ya say that?"

"Merle and Carol are out there, you care about them both," Andrea shrugged.

"Yeah, we get it," Maggie said, appearing seemingly out of nowhere and sitting across from them. "Well I get it, Glenn is out there too."

"Glenn will be alright," Daryl tried to assure. "Kids got skills."

"I still find it interesting that you didn't get on with the group when you guys were back in Atlanta," Maggie mused.

"No reason to get on with them," he shrugged. "Not back then anyway, but I give credit where it's due and Glenn is skillful. Shocked he was a pizza boy before this."

Maggie nodded sadly. "I feel sorry for those of us who didn't get to do what they wanted. I mean I didn't, but I got to grow up before all this, do _some_ things I wanted."

"Yeah," Andrea sighed. "Sucks don't it?"

"Sure does," Daryl agreed. "But maybe we could skip the sob fest?"

Both girls laughed and nodded in agreement. Daryl smiled at them as they all got up and sorted dinner. Andrea took hers and Michonne and headed over to where Michonne waited. Daryl got Carl and Rick's while Maggie got Beth and Hershel's. The group sat together, eating quietly and trying to avoid talking about the run.

By time dinner was done Daryl surprised everyone by picking Judith out of her Moses basket and taking her bottle from Beth. He just shrugged his shoulders before carefully feeding her. He kept his eyes on her as he did. Once she was fed and burped she rested happily in his arm, rolling over after a bit and gripping at his sling. He sunk into his chair and didn't move an inch, afraid of disturbing her.

She was fast asleep when he heard the car approach. He sighed with relief when Carol, Merle and Glenn all got out looking unharmed. They left the stuff in the car and Glenn opened up the fence so they could slip through. Merle followed Glenn through. Daryl gently laid Judith in her Moses basket and made his way over to join them. But as Carol came through the fence five walkers stumbled out from the woods. Daryl cursed and ran back to the table where his crossbow was.

He tore his sling off and held his crossbow up, ignoring the pain it caused. As he aimed he saw Carol running away from there but it was close. He fired, shooting the one closest to her through the head. He then shot the two that were closest together, the arrow killed the first one and went into the second one. He shot another arrow at it, then he watched as Merle pulled Carol behind him and sunk his knife into the fourth one while Andrea shot the fifth one from her spot on watch.

Beth and Carl stayed with Judith while the others ran towards the scene. Maggie threw her arms around Glenn while Hershel moved over to check he was OK too. Merle and Rick quickly tied the fence back up just in case more walkers came out. Daryl stood there, watching Carol as she wiped some blood off of her cheek. He didn't dare move until she looked up at him. She gave him a small smile and a shrug. He moved then, going over to her and putting his hands on her shoulders. He'd seen the whole thing but he still checked her for bites and scratches.

"Daryl, I'm fine."

"Just checkin'."

"I didn't know they were there," she admitted. "They were so quiet."

"Sneaky bastards," he agreed.

"You can stop checking now."

He froze and brought his eyes up to her face. "Sorry."

Her face suddenly scrunched up in confusion. Her hand rested lightly on his shoulder. "What happened?"

"I was scared I wouldn't get here in time so I used my bow."

"That was stupid," she scowled. "You probably did more damage. You were meant to keep it in that sling and not use it. I'm locking you in the apartment if you've made it worse. You need to _rest_ otherwise it'll never get better and you'll be miserable for long-"

Daryl cut her off sharply with a kiss. He pulled away enough to talk but kept his lips close to hers. "Shut up, I'm fine and so are you, that's what matters." His whole body tingled as their lips brushed lightly together but then his body froze, realising where they were.

"So I kept this thing secret for nothin'?" Merle asked, clearly trying not to laugh.

"I had so many things I wanted to get out of you two," Beth pouted as she and Carl wandered over with Judith. "But now I have no leverage."

"You had none," Carl spoke up. "We all guessed. Most of us anyway."

Both Daryl and Carol looked at the group just as Rick mumbled "fine I'll take your watch too," to Maggie.

Carol tried not to smile at that the fact that Rick had obviously lost a bet. She was dragged away suddenly by Beth, Maggie and Andrea, taking Judith with them. Michonne just shook her head at them and went back to watch, Carl joining her. Rick motioned for Daryl to follow him before walking off while Glenn and Merle set to work on moving the bodies so they could be burned.

* * *

"I should really find Daryl," Carol mused.

"Oh no," Maggie grinned. "I've been betting Rick about this for a long time."

"How long?"

"Not long," she admitted. "Since that night we celebrated."

"But we had suspicions," Andrea added. "Since that day he came back from hunting in a mood."

Carol could feel herself blush. "We weren't together then."

"When then?" Maggie asked causing Beth, who already knew the details, to giggle.

"After he was in a mood maybe?" Carol said, trying to be cryptic.

"You kept it secret pretty well," Beth smiled. "I was somewhat shocked when I found out."

"I knew you knew!" Maggie exclaimed.

"I walked in on them and they begged me not to tell!"

"We weren't doing anything," Carol said hastily as Maggie and Andrea both raised a questioning eyebrow. "And she had no issue in blackmailing us."

"What did you blackmail them for?" Andrea asked as she and Maggie tried not to laugh.

"I wanted some free time, so I blackmailed them into looking after Judith."

Maggie put an arm around Beth's shoulders. "Dad used to be scared she'd end up like me."

"Yeah, Dad was scared Amy would grow up like me too," Andrea laughed.

Maggie and Beth both laughed. Neither of them had known Amy but Carol did and she was happy to see Andrea talking about her sister and smiling. It had been so long since Amy (and most of the people they had lost) was brought up but when it had been all Carol could remember was how broken Andrea looked. She hoped now that things were going good for her she'd be able to be able to move on properly too.

* * *

Daryl nervously toed the ground wishing that he had come with back up. He had his bow but he couldn't very well shoot Rick so he didn't have to find out what he wanted. The two of them walked away from the others, keeping some distance. Daryl instantly figured it was so no one could hear what they had to say and that worried him slightly. What did Rick need so much privacy before?

"I had no idea," Rick admitted when they finally stopped walking.

"How come?" Daryl asked, suddenly feeling some jealousy bubble up.

"I just didn't see it," Rick shrugged. "That's why I bet Maggie. Now I'm taking her next watch shift too."

"Aren't leaders meant to be all knowing?" Daryl joked.

"So you two are together?"

Daryl nodded. "We were just workin' through some things."

"I know it's none of my business but things are finally going well for us," Rick started. "I just want to know that you're sure about this. I don't want the group to split if things go bad."

"We're sure," Daryl assured. "Well she's stuck with me this long and I'm comfortable."

"Now that that's out of the way," Rick said, clapping his hands together. "What took you so long?!"

Daryl felt his jaw go slack. "What?"

"I told Maggie that she was wrong because you hadn't made a move so far, I figured you wouldn't!"

"I..."

"What were you so worried about?"

Daryl shrugged. "I don't know."

"How longs it been going on for?"

"Dunno," Daryl said awkwardly. "I came back from hunting one day and we just talked..."

"Oh, when you were in that horrible mood?" Rick mused. "Why was that anyway?"

"You were making Carol laugh," Daryl mumbled quietly.

"You were jealous?" he asked, trying not to laugh. "I like Carol and all but trust me when I say I think I'm sworn off women for now after what happened with Lori."

Daryl groaned and ran a hand over his face, realising that he had made a mistake in ever being jealous of Rick. As they headed back to the group Rick really did laugh and shook his head at whole thing in slight disbelief. Daryl just mumbled a few choice words as he followed close behind.

* * *

_R&R_


	20. Chapter 20

Carol went in search of Daryl. He had started walking back to the group with Rick before swiftly veering off in a different direction. She wanted to go after him then but she was asked more questions and roped into more conversations. By the time she was able to get away he had been gone for a good hour. She knew he was in no danger, now that he had successfully used his arm he would probably use it again, especially in an emergency.

Her search took her all over but eventually she found Daryl sitting on the small patch of grass behind the showroom house. Surprisingly the showroom was furthest away from the entrance gate but it was pretty much on its own and hard to miss with all the signs on and around it. She knew instantly that he came here because he more likely to have some peace.

She carefully sat down on the patch of grass beside him, both had their backs to the house and were facing the forest that surrounded the back and side of the site. "Running away?"

"Hiding," he corrected.

"From?"

He looked sideways at her. "Not you."

"That's good."

"What did they talk to you about?"

"Just asked questions," she shrugged. "They're curious."

"Sorry I left ya alone."

"Let me try and help that shoulder then we'll call it even."

"Where'd ya want me?"

Carol made a rotating gesture with her finger. Once he was turned so that his bad shoulder was on her side she shuffled closer. She carefully lifted his arm and helped to stretch it. She then rested a hand on his shoulder, the other on his arm, then slowly rotated it.

"How's that feel?"

"Hurts but I think it's helping."

The hand that was on his shoulder continued to rotate it while the hand that was on his shoulder carefully massaged it. His head gently rolled back and his eyes closed as he relaxed and let her work. His shoulder felt tight and ached but slowly the pain drifted off. Eventually it got to the point where the pain was hardly noticeable. It was at that point of enjoyment where Daryl almost lost himself.

He turned his head to the side and watched her. She gave him a small smile and continued with her actions. He bit his lip to stop a moan that threatened to come out. His hand grasped hers to stop her from massaging his shoulder. Her hand that still gripped his arm tightened on it slightly as she kept her eyes on his. And her grip only tightened as he leaned in, breaking the space between them to gently press his lips to hers.

A slight thrill went through her as he adjusted their positions so that she was lying down. She watched him carefully, trying to work out what he was going to do next. For a small while he just watched her, running his fingers up and down her arm, causing her to shiver. When she least expected it he hovered over her, trying to put majority of his weight on his good side. His lips soon found hers again and they kissed slowly, deepening the kiss with playful tongues and a nip here and there to the other's bottom lip.

Suddenly one of them bit a little harder than need be, extracting a moan from both of them as they both ground into each other, but after the moment passed Daryl froze. He kept his lips to hers and Carol waited for him to adjust. She knew this could happen, the back and forward of Daryl's readiness. It had been a while since they really could lose it with each other, and it seemed to dawn on both of them that it could happen now for real.

"Just breathe," she told him as he pulled away from her slightly.

He nodded his head and did as he was told. Her hands went to his face. She held her hands to his cheeks, rubbing circles with her thumbs. His eyes closed and he let out a peaceful sigh. She kissed his lips once before lying back down and just watching him. Slowly the tension left his body and he began to enjoy the feel of her. Carefully and almost experimentally he rocked his hips against hers.

Not wanting to scare him off but also not wanting him to think he'd done something wrong she allowed herself to let out a small moan. He tried again, this time a little harder, extracting a soft moan from the both of them. He continued his slow rocking, becoming more sure as he went on. As soon as his lips came down on hers again Carol knew that he was comfortable with the action. From then on she allowed her hips to rock upwards and meet his gentle rocking.

As their actions slowed from fear of getting too carried away he rested his head in the crook of her neck. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" she whispered. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"I'm all up and down," he mumbled. "And it's not been fair on ya."

"I'd rather you were up and down then lie about how comfortable you are." She closed her eyes. "And as for it not being fair on me... It'll all be worth the wait."

"Really?"

She pushed him so that he rolled onto his back. Before he could react in any way she moved to straddle him. "There's plenty of ways to build up your courage and make you feel more comfortable. And I guarantee that in the long run we'll both have fun."

"A nice secluded patch of grass is a good place to start," he hinted.

She hit his chest lightly. "Small doses for now."

"That's not fair." He sat up the same time as he drew his knees up, trapping Carol effectively. He pouted her but she just shook her head before dropping it down to his neck. Her lips kissed softly before trailing a line. Carefully she nibbled at his ear lobe and sucked gently. His grip tightened on her as he let out a small moan. "Alright... _Fine._.. Small doses."

* * *

After the initial excitement of Daryl and Carol's relationship came and went, other emotions settled in. A lot more questions were asked and discussions set up. The group were impressed that they really had kept it a secret. Although some did suspect it wasn't like Carol and Daryl made it _too _obvious. Some, like Beth, wanted to know details about their relationship while others made the odd comment and joke here and there.

Daryl sucked it up as best as he could, especially when he saw that Carol was trying her best to deal with it too. Luckily for him she took most of the force, and stepped in here and there whenever he got a little flustered and struggled to answer someone. It went on well into dark and due to change over with watch duty everyone got a chance to talk to the new couple.

"How you holding up?"

Daryl heard Merle's snort of laughter before he turned to see that it was Andrea who had spoke. He just looked at her for a moment, surprised that it was her who had spoken. "Alright."

"Just alright?" she laughed. "You're part of a great thing!"

"I know it's great," he agreed. "But why do you think it's great?"

"I was there when we were all first together, remember?" She gave a small smile. "I remember how Ed treated her. I remember being one of those who stood between her and Ed as he tried to hurt her and stop her from having the slightest bit of fun. I know everyone hates him but Shane helped then. We were all different I guess. I've never really seen Carol this happy."

"She really seems happy?" he asked as his eyes darted to Carol.

"Yes," Andrea laughed. "_Very_. And now I know why you've changed."

"What?"

"You look more lively," she shrugged.

"And I wasn't before?"

"It was more like you were just floating by... It's like you actually want to be alive now."

"I do," he agreed.

"You're good for each other," she commented. "What happens now?"

"You lot mind your own business for starters."

Andrea laughed but nodded her head in mild agreement. When she wasn't looking Daryl found himself smiling. He really was happy. He couldn't honestly remember the last time that he was this happy, there really wasn't a time before Carol. Just watching her made him feel better and when she turned around to look at him with that small smile of hers he couldn't stop himself from going straight to her.

* * *

_R&R_


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: **_Hey guys. Sorry about the massive delay between this and the last chapter, but I really needed to take a break from fanfiction for a bit. This chapter I guess takes on the T rating, in fact the rating may end up going up to M at some point. I'm not so good with physical scenes so sorry about that in advance, it was a lot harder as well considering I've made Daryl out to have no experience, I didn't want it to come across too rushed or suddenly confident. They've still got a way to go but here's _something_ for those who have wanted it._

* * *

"Daryl?" Carol questioned as he got closer to her.

He didn't respond, only gave a small grunt and grabbed her hand. She bit her lip so not to smile or laugh before she allowed herself to be tugged towards him. His arms encircled her waist and she rested her forehead against his chest. As his breathing came a little ragged she kissed his bad shoulder.

"What's this?" she whispered.

"Hard not to when you're prancing around with that smile on your face."

"Well it's your fault," she accused, smiling as she did.

"Bet I can make ya smile more."

She pulled away a little, noting the others watching in some way. She chose to ignore it so not to ruin this rare moment. "Oh really?" she challenged, eyebrow raised slightly.

He gave a small, yet arguably confident nod to which she gave him a look that was a hundred shades of 'bring it on'. He smirked at the prospect before bringing his lips closer to hers. His lips connected with hers and realising that it didn't feel half bad doing this out in public he deepened the kiss, even going so far as to lightly trail patterns on her palm with his finger.

When he pulled away she had the biggest grin he'd ever seen plastered on her face. A wave of pleasure went through his body when he realised that he had caused her to smile like that.

"Do you have any work ya need to do?" he questioned.

"Get you to let Hershel see that arm," she shrugged.

"Fine, we do that then you're coming with me."

She gave an eager nod before grabbing his hand and leading him over to where Hershel sat a little away from the others. She sat him down in front of Hershel and motioned towards his shoulder. Hershel seemingly got the hint because he set aside his work and moved a little closer.

He felt the shoulder first before helping Daryl to take his shirt off. The shoulder was moved, felt and examined carefully. Daryl showed some signs of discomfort but generally it felt like nothing but a bad bruise.

"How does it feel?"

"Not too bad," Daryl shrugged.

"It seems to be alright," Hershel decided, examining the shoulder a little more as he talked. "But I wouldn't be too hasty to use it too much. Do simple things for now, nothing that puts too much strain on it."

"I'll try, no promises."

"He'll try and succeed," Carol chimed in.

Daryl looked up at her, frowning slightly. She just raised an eyebrow at him. He broke first with a roll of his eyes and a mumble of agreement. In that moment Carol felt triumph over winning the argument while Daryl wasn't sure whether to be happy about Carol winning this one or upset that he had lost.

* * *

Who won what battle was forgotten when both were out of each other's company for some time. Carol volunteered to go through the things they had while Merle took full advantage of Daryl's mostly healed arm by taking him out for a quick hunt.

"I was wondering when you'd get back," Carol said, not even bothering to turn to face the door to the apartment as it opened.

"How'd you know it was me?"

"Maybe I didn't," she joked. "Maybe I was waiting for someone else."

He frowned at that but as he got closer he caught the smirk on her face. "Cruel," he muttered under his breath.

She crawled over to his side of the couch and sat beside him. She leaned into him as he brought his arm up to wrap around her. He looked to the side, his chin resting on the top of her head. She rested her hand on his knee and relaxed completely against him, marveling in the fact that he also seemed completely at ease.

"You seem strangely OK with this whole thing," she whispered.

"For now," he agreed. "I guess it was seein' how happy ya were."

"You do know that it's you that makes me happy, not them knowing."

"You seemed even livelier though."

"'Cause I could be," she explained. "I was always that lively just not out in the open."

"Sorry ya couldn't be."

"You apologise too much," she pointed out, squeezing his knee.

He responded by tickling her with the hand from the arm that was wrapped around her. She tried to squirm away but he held her close so he could continue his attack. She let out a loud laugh and continued in vain to get away. While the whole exchange was going on Daryl found himself smiling at the sounds she made.

Neither of them became aware that the situation was slowly changing, but suddenly neither were laughing. Carol had somehow ended up on the other side of the couch with her back to the arm of it while Daryl was knelt in front of her. His hands were rested gently on her, having not moved even after he stopped tickling her. Both were breathless and watching the other carefully.

Carol moved first. She reached a hand up to cup his face softly before trailing it down to the collar of his shirt. She wrapped her hand in it and tugged him closer. He stumbled even closer and as soon as he was close enough she attached her lips to his.

The kiss was hesitant at first but as soon as he started to kiss back all caution was thrown aside. Her arms wrapped around his neck as he gently eased himself between her legs. As she bit gently on his bottom lip his body pushed further into hers.

It was like an automatic flick of a switch. She would coax him closer and make him feel more comfortable with every flick of her tongue while every now and again she would nibble his lip or roam her hands over him to extract some sort of reaction out of him – a moan, a rocking of his hips against hers.

"I…"

She continued to let her hands run up and down his arms but she stilled all other movements. "You?"

When he didn't respond, just let his eyes flutter shut, she gripped his shirt and slowly eased it up. The further up his back it got the more he tensed. She smiled sadly at the thought of him still being uncomfortable about _them_ but she didn't blame him. She let his shirt drop back down before her fingers played with his belt buckle.

"You?" He gulped audibly. "Look at me."

He did, and as soon as his eyes were locked on hers she started to undo his belt. Every time he looked away she would stop her movements until he looked back at her again. To make him more at ease and to fill the gaps she kissed his face and neck softly every so often.

She eventually got his belt and jeans undone. She pushed his jeans down slightly, pleased that he lifted his hips away from her so she could. Once they were down enough to be out of the way, she ran her finger along the waist band of his boxers, dipping her fingers underneath every so often.

His breathing was much heavier now and his whole body language kept changing. Eventually, however, he managed to calm himself by keeping his eyes on her. She bit her lip, wondering if the whole eye contact thing was really such a good idea. She could feel herself chickening out of what she had started so to stop that from happening she slowly inched her hand beneath his boxers.

She made her movements slow and deliberate as she wrapped her fingers around him. His head dropped to her neck with a groan. She squeezed him once making him lift his head to look at her again. As their eyes locked she slowly started to stroke him, moving from base to tip, making sure to touch every inch of him.

His breathing was becoming more haggard and his moans a little out of control when he wriggled away from her a little. She retracted her hand with a frown but he only smiled. He leaned down to kiss her again, this time taking full control. The power behind it alone made her almost lose control there and then.

It didn't get much easier when his hand trailed under her shirt and his finger ran over her bra. He slipped a finger beneath it and ran his finger over one of her breasts, deliberately catching her nipple each time. She arched up into him as he continued his actions and started to kiss her neck softly.

Her eyes snapped shut and for a split second she froze before she arched her back further, pressing herself into him. "The look at me rule goes both ways," he whispered.

She looked up at him and felt any worry leave her body. This was Daryl and she was safe. He was just as afraid as her in this situation, it was new for the both of them. New for him because the experience was new, new for her because she had never been allowed to enjoy herself or say no.

This time she kept her eyes open, locked on his. With trembling hands he lifted her shirt up and over her head. When he hesitated she reached behind herself and unhooked her bra. She held the fabric up enough to give him some time. Once he had he reached a hand out and gently pushed a strap off one shoulder. He kept a hold of the strap as he continued it down her arm. She held her arms out so he could slip it off. He held it in his hand for a moment before flinging it behind him.

Carefully and experimentally he palmed one of her breasts softly. He almost stopped when she bit her lip but as soon as her eyes locked onto his again he continued. He squeezed lightly, applying more pressure each time to work out the perfect amount. When he squeezed particularly hard her eyes snapped closed for a brief moment. Unsure if it was out of pain or pleasure he ran a finger over her nipple, drawing patterns around it then swiping his finger across once more. He could see the way he made her squirm and he wanted more than anything to help her out more.

With trembling hands he trailed a hand down her stomach. Seeing his hesitation she reached out a hand to stop him. Before he could question or argue the action she flipped them over. She straddled his stomach and reached behind her to free him of his boxers. He took a sharp intake of breath as her fingers wrapped around him, softly stroking.

It was his turn for his eyes to snap shut briefly. When he opened them again it was like everything had changed. Looking at her now was a lot more intense. He could feel what she was doing to him but all he could see was her. Every so often she would lean down to kiss him softly. His hands moved to her hips and his fingers dug in slightly before he trailed one hand up her side. As she leaned forward a little to kiss him again his hand encased her breast.

As he gently massaged her breast she quickened her pace. As his eyes grew wide and his body jerked they both knew it was all over. She leaned down and kissed him hard as he rode out his high.

* * *

_R&R_


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: **_I was away for a week, and no wi-fi equals no updates, but I couldn't help writing fanfiction and just saving it up. Part of the reason I couldn't resist writing while I was away was because Norman Reedus refused to leave my head._

* * *

Carol moved first, sitting at the other end of the couch so that Daryl could move. He sat up slowly, still in a slight daze. He tried to talk, to say something to her but his mouth didn't want to work. Instead he kept his eyes on her. Before if they had kept their eyes on each other it meant that they were OK.

When his eyes locked onto hers she smiled. It was a genuinely happy smile and it made Daryl's stomach do flips just thinking about how he had caused it. She had already dressed again. Her arms were wrapped around herself, but she reached her feet out to nudge Daryl's leg with her toe.

"Thank you," Daryl found himself saying before his brain managed to catch up.

Carol blushed fiercely and looked down. "It was nothing."

He got onto his hands and knees and crawled over to her. He sat in front of her as she drew her knees up. His hands rested on her knees as he looked at her. The blush on her cheeks was getting worse but she brought her eyes up to his.

"It was everythin'," Daryl told her. "But…"

"But?" she questioned, resting her hands over his.

"I feel kinda bad…"

"Oh, don't be," she whispered, cheeks still flaming. "I'm more than satisfied."

Daryl didn't quite believe that she was satisfied but she seemed happy. He leaned over her knees and pressed his lips softly to hers. Instead of pulling away straight away he kept his lips pressed to hers. Her hand came up to lightly touch his face as she smiled against his lips.

"Daryl?" she asked.

"Hmm."

"Maybe we can do that again sometime?"

His eyes closed as his hands tightened their grip. It took all it had in him not to moan out loud. He had definitely been missing out all these years. He had never experienced anything quite like what had happened between him and Carol, he felt excited just thinking about how much better it could get, now she wanted to do it again?"

"Hell yeah," he mumbled happily. "Maybe the both of us can have fun next time."

She kissed him but this time much deeper and harder than the last time. "Shut up, I had plenty of fun."

It was his turn to blush. "So did I."

"See? You were worried for nothing."

"So were you," he pointed out, trying not to bring up the fact that they still had a way to go.

He slowly moved to lay back, holding her hands to pull her with him. As he laid down properly she laid on top of him. Her head rested on her chest while their legs were tangled. His arms wrapped around her. She used one of her own as support for her head while the other rested on his chest beside her.

* * *

When Carol awoke she stretched, finding her path blocked by something solid. She opened her eyes to find a still sleeping Daryl. She smiled at what had happened between them not so long ago. She was proud of him what he did and proud of herself too, but the thing that made her happiest was the fact that Daryl was still there and seemed completely at ease.

"Daryl," she said softly as she shook him.

Slowly he came to. A hand reached up to rub at his eyes as he partially stretched his body. When his eyes fell on her he smiled. "Five more minutes?"

She chuckled slightly. "Don't get too comfortable," she warned.

"Is it mornin'?" he questioned.

She looked out of the window. "I believe so."

His eyes scanned over the two of them. Her lying on him slightly, their bodies still tangled. "Well this is a first," he mumbled.

"First for me in a long time," she admitted shyly.

"Suppose we could permanently share that bed," he shrugged, trying to act casual about the whole thing.

Carol knew her smile was at a dangerous size but she couldn't help it. She had definitely shared a bed with Daryl, they did majority of the time but this was different. He would always get up early to go do something or after a few hours he would decide to go back to the couch. Now she felt like they had broken through this barrier that would allow her to have herself wrapped around Daryl for the entire night.

She kissed his chest. "Then I guess we can pick up later tonight, up you get."

"I can't." She moved to get off of him but instead of Daryl following he pretended to try and get up. "Can't, must be somethin' stoppin' me."

"Daryl, I'm sure there's plenty you could be doing out there," Carol said sternly as she headed towards the bedroom.

"I suppose I could sleep outside."

Carol rolled her eyes as she changed and freshened up. "If you're still on that couch by time I'm done then you'll have hell to pay."

"Damn, woman, give a man a chance."

She was finishing pulling on her top when he walked in. She smiled sweetly at him before leaving him to change. While she waited on him she took some of the food out of the cupboards to make them something to eat.

When he came out he grabbed the packet of peanuts and banana off of her. "Not gonna cook?"

"A comment like that could have you sleeping outside."

"Just testin' the waters," he told her.

She turned to him then. His body was a little shaky and he looked a little sick. She shook her head a little as she took the food from him and set back down on the counter. Her hands rested against his cheeks, holding his face in place. He smiled at her a little but it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Daryl Dixon, I am not going _anywhere_," she told him, never breaking eye contact and making sure every word was heard. "I would only do that if it was in _your_ best interest or you were going to hurt me, but I know the latter would never happen. Just be you, trust me you'll do just fine."

"The first won't happen either," he mumbled. "You leavin' would never be in my best interest."

"Then you have a class tonight," she told him, cheeks tinting red.

"Class, huh?" he questioned as she dropped her hands and headed towards the door.

"We both need a confidence boost and I don't know about you but I'm certainly not gonna stop now that I've had a taste."

She heard him groan as he followed her outside. "You're not the only one."

* * *

_R&R_


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: **_Yeah, yeah. Blame me getting distracted for this not being up earlier. It was meant to be up Friday but I hadn't finished it because... Well, blame Breaking Bad, Aaron Paul and/or youtube. A combination of the three would be your best bet. As for yesterday (Saturday) I was out in the morning then my boyfriend was around till a ridiculous hour (which was awesome and I was not tearing myself away in order to update). Anyway I hope this chapter makes up for it! _

* * *

"So?"

Carol turned at the sound of the over-friendly voice to see Maggie. She rolled her eyes and kept on walking but Maggie followed and soon Andrea seemed to appear out of nowhere. She wasn't about to say anything she didn't need to. If they wanted to know something they could ask her, she wasn't spilling her guts for no reason.

"Aw, come on Carol," Andrea begged. "We know something happened between you and Daryl."

"Everyone knows that we're together," she agreed.

"I didn't mean that and you know it."

Carol smiled but kept facing forward so they couldn't see. "Even if there was something to tell, I wouldn't. You all know what Daryl is like already, imagine how he'd be if I told you guys every little detail?"

"Well we don't need every detail," Maggie said, hoping to sway her. "It'll be easy. Daryl will never know."

"Why do you want to know anyway?" Carol questioned as they stopped at the big table.

Both women were unsure now. Maggie was looking to the side, pretending to be studying something. Andrea was folding her arms and looking at the ground in a fidgety manner.

"Well," Andrea said, a little uneasy. "We were just wondering…"

"Wondering what?"

"About Daryl," Andrea finished.

Carol still looked a little unsure of their point so Maggie stepped in. "You know… How he is… In _that_ department."

"I'd say you two are embarrassed," Carol said with a small laugh. "But why would you want to know?"

"Of course we're embarrassed," Maggie said. "It's Daryl. You're the only person who has ever been close to him, like really close."

"But that doesn't mean we're not curious," Andrea went on. "It's not hard to guess the others. Rick must have had something going on."

"Well if Lori had to go with Shane..." Maggie muttered.

Andrea hit her. "Well no, not necessarily. Anyway, Glenn obviously has something from the way Maggie seems to moan and scream her head off. Merle apparently had lots of women, so there's got to be something there. That leaves Daryl…"

Carol giggled slightly at the way Maggie gaped when she was brought up. As silly as it was the girls had a point. Daryl was the mysterious one. They'd all been together this long and most of them only knew small details about Daryl, and with the bigger ones they only knew the basic story, no details. Apart from his hunting and other such skills there wasn't really much knowledge about the man himself and that was purely because he kept to himself.

"I'm not telling you anything," Carol said determinedly. "But I will tell you that he is just as eligible as any of the other guys."

"Eligible?" Maggie asked. "So that means he's packing good right?"

"Maggie!" Carol exclaimed.

"What?" she questioned, looking at Andrea. "Don't deny it. You're curious too."

"Well I have wondered…"

"Well don't," Carol said, biting her lip. "No need to know anymore."

"Oh he's all yours," Andrea grinned, sitting at the table.

"Yeah, couldn't imagine it any other way," Maggie agreed, sitting down too.

Carol smiled at that as she joined them. She couldn't blame them really. She would be curious about Daryl too if it were the other way around. Maybe it was because he was so reserved that you just wanted to be successful in finding something out about him.

* * *

"So?"

Daryl looked up from his work. "So what?"

Merle laughed a little. "You wanna talk about it or not?"

"Just because you talk the mornin' after doesn't mean I do."

"So this is the mornin' after?"

"I'm not sayin'," Daryl mumbled. He wasn't quite sure if it counted. He knew that Merle was talking about sex, of course he was, that was the one detail Merle would be first in line to find out about, especially after all this time. "Plus, don't want ya criticising me."

"Brother, I'm just glad you actually know how to use 'em."

Daryl just grunted and got back to skinning the squirrels they'd caught. He wasn't about to admit that he still wasn't quite sure about what he was doing, and he certainly didn't want to lie and end up somewhere worse.

* * *

"You look pale," Carol whispered.

Daryl looked over to her as they got rid of their plates. He looked over at the table, they were all there. "Merle was askin' about us."

It didn't take a genius. Carol knew exactly what that meant. "Maggie and Andrea were asking me about us… Well more about you."

"Me?" He coughed awkwardly. "What about me?"

"Oh, nothing," Carol smiled. "I didn't answer them anyway."

"Me neither," he grinned, as he set his plates in the water she had.

She smiled, setting to work on washing the dishes. He stood nearby, dish towel in hand, ready to grab the dishes as she finished with them. They worked in silence. It comforted Carol, made her happy. She liked knowing that they could do things like this, the fact that there could be this comfortable silence between them. Deep down she knew it made her happy because it meant nothing had really changed between them, things had only gotten better.

They spent a couple of hours doing the dishes. Between the washing and the drying there was definitely their own, comfortable version of flirting. At one point Carol had to take the dish towel and hit Daryl on the arm with it because he was getting way too distracted. After that it became a game to him to see how far he could get before she did it again.

"Daryl, I swear to God," she hissed.

He dried his hands with the towel and set it down for her. "Yeah?"

"Won't seem so fun when I go to sleep as soon as we get back."

He leaned across and kissed her cheek. "I just can't keep my hands off of ya."

"Then save something for later."

"Trust me, I'm not about to run out or get bored, I got plenty."

"Well, you're going to have to try and control it for another couple of hours," she told him. "Even if I wanted to sneak off with you now I promised I'd help Beth with Judith. She's been a little unwell so Beth's been looking after her more, it's hard to get her settled sometimes."

When he didn't say anything but looked lost in concentration she knew he was trying to figure out a way to change her plans. She quickly kissed him on the cheek and jogged towards the Grimes house before he could say or do anything to stop her.

As she entered she heard singing. Beth had opted to put Judith down for her sleep now that she was unwell. It was close to Rick's turn on watch and it was a lot for Carl to handle. On occasion the boy helped a lot but on others Beth insisted that he stay outside and relax. Hershel had been the original go to person because he could keep an eye on her temperature too but Beth insisted, it was no secret either that she wanted to get better with the medical things her dad was teaching her.

Carol didn't say anything as she entered Rick's room. Judith was nestled in her Moses basket which was situated on its stand at the end of the bed. Beth was sat at the end of the bed beside the basket, singing softly. Carol didn't recognise the tune but she definitely didn't want to stop Beth from singing it.

Eventually though the song did come to an end. Beth smiled at Judith, not moving for a few moments before she pulled her hand away from the basket. She looked up at Carol and smiled.

"I think she's getting better," she whispered. "She's gone down already."

"That's good," Carol nodded, moving to sit on the other side of the basket. "Hopefully this sleep will help her a lot."

"I hope so, I don't like it when she's sick."

"Neither do I."

"You're good with her," Beth smiled. "I can see you and Daryl having kids."

Carol's breath caught in her throat. After having Sophia she never considered kids, not with being married to a man like Ed, and she certainly didn't think she'd have kids again after Sophia was taken from her. But she had come back to the idea of kids if the world was a little different, if the situation was right. The situation was somewhat right, they had somewhere and she was with someone who clearly cared about her. But the world was still a mess and Daryl, would Daryl want that? Even if he was ready and they had been together a long time, would he want something like that?

"I don't know about that," Carol said softly. "You've got a good shot though."

"Yeah, in the future maybe, definitely no time soon. Unless you've been hiding a long line of eligible guys from me?"

Carol shook her head. "But you'll be the first to know if I do."

Beth smiled at that. Both women sat there for a while, staying quiet and making sure that Judith wouldn't be disturbed. At first Judith slept lightly, too much noise or movement could wake her but after some time she really settled and it became nearly impossible to wake her up. Once that danger zone had been passed they talked freely about the lighter things in life and the possibility of a real future.

* * *

"Is Judith OK?" Daryl asked as Carol came through the door.

"Yeah, I actually took so long because I was talking to Beth."

"About what?"

"Nothing really," she shrugged. "Just about the future."

"Anything interestin'?"

"Nothing you would find interesting," she smiled.

"Try me," he challenged, standing up to greet her as she came into the living room.

"Maybe in the morning," she whispered, leaning up to kiss him as she wrapped her arms around him.

He silently agreed by kissing her back. Her hands came down from his shoulders and rested on his chest. She gripped his top and pulled him with her as she stepped backwards towards the bedroom.

She slowed down as they got into the bedroom. His arm was around her waist and she lost all concentration as his tongue flicked across hers. It sent sensations through her that she found unbelievable. The taste of him was just too much but the fact that he was so close to her made it impossible to even think.

Her legs hitting the bed brought some sense back to her. She pulled away long enough to allow them to climb onto the bed. Carol nestled against the pillows as Daryl hovered above her. It still amazed her that they were together, that he was willing to go out of his comfort zone.

He kissed her neck, softly and a little unsure. Carol's hands went to Daryl's shoulders and carefully massaged the flesh there in order to relax him. One hand rested by her head, supporting his weight while the other skimmed down her side to grip her hip. It tightened as he nibbled and sucked various points on her neck.

Carefully, so not to break away from him, she shifted positioned. Her legs came up to wrap around him, pulling him closer to her. He pulled away slightly, looking up at her. She turned her head to the side slightly, tilting it down a bit to see him better. The hand on her hip loosened and instead drew patterns there. The patterns traveled down the length of her thigh and back up again.

Carol's breath caught in her throat as Daryl drew circles at the tops of her thighs. She tightened her legs around him 'causing his growing erection to press further against her centre. An animalistic growl ripped itself from Daryl's throat. It sent shivers through Carol. She wanted so much to have him make that sound again but he pulled away slightly. He shifted so he was lying on his side next to her. He was balancing his head on his hand while the other one drew patterns on her stomach. She opened her mouth to ask about the change of events when his finger started to play with the button of her jeans. _Oh_.

But he seemed so unsure so Carol decided to help him out a little. Give him an easier route. She grabbed his hand and put it just under her shirt slightly. He started drawing patterns again but she noticed that they slowly started to edge their way further up under her shirt. His fingers stopped when they reached her bra. He ran his finger along the skin just at the bottom of it. After a few runs he brought his fingers up between her breasts and traced them softly.

Carol arched her back slightly at his touch, silently prompting him, and Daryl definitely knew how to take a hint sometimes. He traced his finger round to her side. She arched her back again so he could slip his hand behind her. He fiddled for a moment and Carol was so close to reaching back to do it herself when her bra sprung loose. She sat up long enough to help him pull her t-shirt above her head. As she dropped her arms he slid her bra off before she fell back against the pillows.

For a while Daryl seemed to just watch her and Carol couldn't find her voice to tell him to cut it out. His finger ghosted over her but was pretty limited. She impatiently arched her back a little as his finger ghosted around one of them. He smiled at her action and carefully traced a finger over a nipple. His smile turned into a grin as it hardened instantly. He tested it with the other one, getting the exact same reaction. As he massaged one of her breasts he took a new course of action. His tongue flicked over the exposed nipple before gently sucking on it.

As Carol wriggled he increased his actions. He tugged and massaged firmly as his tongue flicked quickly and he sucked longer and more thoroughly. If it wasn't for the way she squirmed and bit her bottom lip he honestly would have thought that his actions had a very poor effect. As he moved his mouth, giving attention to the other one now, his hand trailed down her stomach. This time he didn't hesitate right away. He fiddled with her button until it popped open and then pulled the zipper down.

He kissed her skin a few times before lifting his head to look at her. "I..."

"Just," she started, her breathing a little off. "Try what you think is right."

He frowned. Really? Was that a good idea? It wasn't exactly a secret between them that he wasn't a hundred percent sure about all of this so was it sensible to let him take his own lead? But she seemed sure and she was smiling a little at him so he figured he was safe to at least try, she seemed pretty confident in him in anyway.

His hand carefully dipped between the layers of clothing. They rested there for a moment, no movement. He could practically feel the heat radiating from her. He carefully dipped a finger between her folds. The simple action made her shudder and it set off a small spark in Daryl. When he did it again he ran his finger slowly up and down. He noted the points where she arched her back furthest and bit her lip harder.

The thrill of knowing that he made her do that was too much. It was addictive. Daryl found the point that made her squirm completely. As he rubbed circled on it he felt the small bud. Something clicked. To get him interested in women Merle told him a lot about them, said there was one way to make them like putty in your hands. From the way Carol seemed to moan and arch into him he realised he might have found it. Or if he hadn't, he'd at least found something that he liked.

He must have done something while he was lost in thought because Carol's hand was on his, gripping it. He worried he had been wrong the whole time when she shifted his hand a little. She bucked against his hand slightly to get him to move. He carefully rubbed circles there before running his finger downwards. Her hand moved towards his again but he reacted quicker. His finger dipped inside of her, causing her to retract her hand and instead use it to shimmy her jeans and underwear down a little.

Daryl kissed her neck as he slowly moved his finger in and out of her. She turned her head to the side. He brought his up next to hers, their lips almost touching. Her breathing was heavy as his finger moved in and out quickly.

"More," she breathed.

This time when his finger retreated he eased two back in. She groaned and her eyes snapped shut. He kissed her nose, a smile spreading across his face from the sounds she was making. He worked his fingers hard and fast, bringing his lips to hers. He captured her moans with a kiss as he seemed to show no mercy. He trailed kisses to her jaw and then to her neck. He bit softly, sucking happily as he worked.

Suddenly her legs started to shake and he panicked. If it wasn't for her begging for him not to stop between moans then he would have snapped his hand back in a heart beat. His actions were a little slower now but he kept it up. A few times when he pulled his fingers back out he would trail them up and down her slit before pushing into her again. In the end her legs shook harder and she gasped. He watched in amazement as her whole body seemed to have a mind of its own. She looked to be in complete bliss and it didn't stop, even when he did.

When her eyes fluttered open he retracted his hand. "Did I?"

She nodded softly. "Hmm."

"Merle can boast like it's the hardest thing in the world."

"Can be," she mused.

"Give me a harder challenge next time then," he mumbled, kissing her neck.

"You do realise how long it's been for me right?" she asked. "Not to say you're not talented or anything, because... _wow._"

He marveled in the fact that she thought he was talented. No one had used "wow" to described him except possibly about his hunting and tracking skills, but even then. It made him feel proud, a rarity really. "You've never... Y'know... Yourself?"

"Not the same," she admitted. "Well compared to that it certainly isn't."

"I'm glad," he admitted.

She smiled at him. "Turns out I didn't have to teach you much. You know more than you let on. Although next time, don't be so afraid of everything. Just go for it. Believe me, I'll tell you if you're wrong."

"Ya sure?"

"With a tongue like yours and the fingers to match, I'm sure."

He licked his lips, thinking about it. His tongue? He smiled at the possibilities. "I guess I've wondered about a few things."

"Now you don't have to just wonder," she told him. "Well, at the very least you can think out loud."

"I guess you'd wanna wait till tomorrow, huh?" he commented, smiling as he noticed the way her breathing was still a little off.

She rolled her eyes. "A moment or two would be nice."

He smiled at that as he looked for her shirt. He spotted it towards the end of the bed. It felt lazy of him but he didn't want to move to get it. So instead he pulled his shirt off and handed it to her. She smiled as she took. She wriggled out of her jeans but pulled her underwear back on before putting Daryl's shirt on. It covered plenty and she knew there and then that he would probably never get it back. Although, from the way he was looking at her she figured that maybe he wouldn't mind so much if she wore it again.

* * *

_R&R_


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: **_Ah, I got my results yesterday and I was way too nervous to write. They weren't the best results (in my opinion) but I got enough to get into a University of my choice to study Creative Writing! So I'm happy but the nerves/stress really got to me so I figured I'd channel that into some drama for this chapter and the next one._

* * *

Carol stretched out. She linked her hands together as she pressed them above her head. Her body took up the length of the bed. Her toes pointed and her face scrunched up briefly. As she relaxed she became aware that Daryl wasn't beside her. She sat up, straining her ears. She couldn't hear anything. He was most likely outside with the others, although of course he could sneak up on just about anyone so there was a good chance that he was still in the apartment somewhere.

She pushed herself up off of the bed. Carefully she pulled Daryl's t-shirt down to cover herself as best as she could. It was one of the few t-shirts that Daryl had with sleeves, even if they were short. On her though they almost came down to her elbows while the actual t-shirt came down to mid-thigh. There wasn't _that_ much of a difference between her and Daryl in terms of height, she never remembered this top looking so big on him. It was comfortable though and she thought maybe he went for comfort rather than size in the first place.

As she was studying the t-shirt she heard the screams and shouts. Quickly she darted for her boots. She pulled them on and grabbed the knife off of the bed side table. Without even being concerned for her state of dress she was out of the door. She rushed down the stairs two at a time and out into the open. She glanced around, trying to figure out the source.

"Carol!"

She turned to see Rick coming from the Grimes' house. In the garden she spotted Hershel, Carl and Judith.

"Where are the others?"

"At the back, by the show house," he explained as he reached her. "I heard the scream from by the tower then everyone was shouting. Andrea is up there at the moment but I told her to stay there and keep an eye on things."

"Could she see anything?"

"No, whatever it was it has to be behind the show house."

She nodded her head, scanning the area with her eyes. It was hard to see anything. There was still some shouting and obviously a lot of movement but for what reasons she had no idea. The two of them looked at each other briefly before heading in that direction. They moved as fast as they could while also keeping an eye out. Carol was happy to notice that Rick had his gun with him as well as a blade.

They slowed their pace when they reached the showcase house. They could hear a lot of movement but there was less shouting and no more screaming. They rounded the house carefully, preparing themselves for the worst. So far (excluding themselves) Hershel, Carl, Judith and Andrea were the only ones accounted for.

A quick glance at each other and they were heading round to the back of the house. As they reached it they were presented with a huge mess. Part of the fence was down and walkers had stumbled in from the woods. Most were dead on the floor, three from a quick head count but there was still another three walking around.

Carol moved first. She went for the one closest to her. It was backing Maggie into the corner who only had a blade on her. Fortunately it was so taken with Maggie that Carol was able to sneak up on it. She raised her blade as she got closer and buried into the back of its head just as it reached Maggie.

"Thank god," Maggie sighed.

Carol reached out and grabbed Maggie's hand, helping her step over the walker's body. They both looked around. The other two walkers had been put down and everyone was breathing heavily.

"Is everyone OK?" Rick called. Everyone seemed to check the person next to them but eventually a chorus of replies flooded through. "Great, now can anyone tell me what the hell happened?"

"The fence," Daryl said, motioning to the broken part. "Remember we spoke about it?"

"Yeah, the material wasn't as good, but that's two fences they broke through."

"No," Beth mumbled, speaking up. "I was walking the perimeter. They started shaking the outer fence, I could see it was about to give way so I climbed through the inner fence. I couldn't close it up because the first fence started to fall… It broke the inner one."

"And that's not her fault," Maggie said hastily. "Her moving out of the way of the fallen fence or not doing it up didn't cause this."

"I agree," Rick sighed. "We got lazy and we allowed for things like this to slip."

"Sounds like you have a plan?" Glenn guessed hopefully.

"Beth and Maggie go back to your Dad, Carl and Judith. I want you guys there to look through weaponry, food, medicine and other supplies. I want an inventory of how much we have and I want it to be checked every week or marked off as it's used."

"We'll sort something out," Maggie agreed, grabbing Beth's hands and pulling her back towards the houses.

"Michonne go to the watch tower and update Andrea, then I need you on patrol." She nodded her head and set off immediately in that direction. "Merle and Daryl start taking these bodies out and burn them. Glenn I want you to go over that map and work out a way we can get supplies for this fence as soon as possible."

"I think I saw a few places we could try when I last saw the map, but I'll try and find a few just in case."

Rick seemed to breathe a little easier as Glenn ran off. "Carol, take this moment to change or get a better weapon, then come here." As Carol's eyes found Daryl she saw how tense he was. "You and I are going to be outside the fence ready to shoot or kill anything that comes near here while the fence is down. Once Merle and Daryl are done with the bodies we can put something temporary up. We'll add an extra watch station here until we get the supplies back for the fence."

"No way," Daryl growled. "She's not being out here in the open. Make someone else do it."

"Like who?" he questioned. "I've put everyone in an appropriate station."

"Michonne for instance."

"She'll be patrolling so she'll already be on hand if we need her," Rick tried to reason. "Come on, the quicker we get this done the quicker we'll all be safe."

"He's right, Daryl," Carol said softly. "Plus if you're quick you might get most of the bodies moved before I'm done changing."

"You better change real slow," he mumbled as he helped Merle drag out a body.

Carol nodded her head even though he couldn't see her. She looked down at her state of dress. When she had heard the shouting and screams she never thought twice about her clothes but now she realised what little she was wearing. Suddenly Daryl looking tense before made sense. She felt herself blush as she tugged at the shirt to try and make it seem longer.

"If you don't have one the guns are in the garage, even all those ones that were in my house," Rick explained, appearing beside her. "We figured it was the best place, only keep enough for a gun each with a couple of spares and some extra ammo in each house."

Carol nodded her head. "Do you need anything?"

"I should have enough here to handle anything," he decided.

"I'll try and be quick," she told him.

"Hopefully none slipped through undetected, it's why I've spread everyone around and put Michonne on watch but scream if anything happens."

She gave a small smile as she jogged over to the apartment, stopping at the garage door long enough to open it up and grab one of the smaller guns and some extra ammo just in case.

* * *

They got the bodies moved pretty quickly. Only two more walkers stumbled out of the woods but were easily taken care of. They burned the bodies carefully, but the flames and smoke was getting a bit too much causing them to have to bury the rest of the remains a little further out. Once that was done they managed to get some material to fix at least the outer fence.

Once that had been done the group changed round a little. Michonne and Andrea swapped so that Andrea was patrolling the perimeter and Michonne was in the tower. Merle managed to perch himself on the roof of the showroom house. He wouldn't be able to get down very quickly but he was a good enough shot that he could hold anything off till the others came. Just in case Maggie was put on patrol as well, her and Andrea starting at opposite ends and going in different directions so at least two sides were covered at once.

The others met back at the big table to discuss the run that would have to be done that day in order to get the fence up and to make sure everyone was safe again.

"Before we sort out how this needs to be done and who is going to do it, is everyone ready to go right now?" Rick asked. There was a small silence before a chorus of "yes" went through everyone. "Good. Glenn you're definitely coming but tell us all the plan anyway."

"The town that Daryl had been stuck in," Glenn explained, pointing it out on the map. "There's a small turning just after it, we need to take that and it'll lead us to a factory. They should have the materials we need there but if they don't there's chain link fences surrounding it."

"If that doesn't work?" Rick questioned, clearly trying to squeeze every option out of Glenn.

"The next town is bigger from what I can see, there might be a DIY store," he shrugged. "Actually, it's pretty likely and if we go that way we can come full circle back to the site."

Rick nodded his head, taking on board that it seemed like the best option. "Right, so that's me and Glenn definitely going. Hershel, Beth, Carl and Judith will stay. Maggie if it's OK I want you to stay here too. Keep going over the inventory. Be ready if Merle, Michonne or Andrea calls."

"Definitely," she agreed. "We'll have it sorted by the time you come back, might even have a system for checking it regularly."

"You don't need four of us," Daryl said, cutting in.

"Yes I do," Rick argued. "We need to carry enough material to fix that fence and bring back extra just in case. We also need to have at least one person watching our backs."

Daryl reluctantly agreed. He reached down, swiped up his bow and headed over to where the vehicles were. He waited by the old pick-up truck that they would no doubt take. Glenn hastily picked up the map and made his way over. Carol let out a sigh as she attached her knife and gun to her belt, making sure they were easy to get to.

Rick sat in the driver's side and Glenn took the middle seat. Carol would sit in the other seat while Daryl would take the truck bed and keep an eye out. She managed to grab his arm before he climbed in.

"I'll be fine," she told him.

"Doesn't mean I'm happy about this."

"Daryl, please, you can't stop me from helping the group."

He sighed and moved away from the truck so that he was closer to her. "I know, just want ya safe."

"And surely I'm safest with you?"

He rolled his eyes. "Maybe."

"I know you think that already, you're allowed to admit it."

He kissed her, keeping his lips pressed against hers as he spoke. "I just don't want to be the one to get ya hurt, or killed."

"You won't, and if you have to put me down then you'll be doing me a favour, you'll be making me _happy_, I don't want to ever be one of them."

His arms wrapped around her, holding her tightly to him. "Don't, now get in the truck before I change my mind."

She squeezed him to her before allowing him to spin her around. As he climbed into the truck bed she climbed into the front with Glenn and Rick. It had been a dark topic to touch on but surprisingly Carol felt good. She sat at an angle so she could keep an eye out as well as being able to subtly look in the truck bed at Daryl.

* * *

"This shit is takin' too long!" Daryl called from his spot.

The factory had been a bust but just before the next town they found another construction site. Most of the materials hadn't been used. Luckily most of it had been covered or were in temporary structures to keep them dry and safe. Daryl was stood on top of the truck, looking all around. Every now and then he would get down from it to walk around. Rick and Glenn were moving the heavier stuff between them while Carol scavenged for tools and smaller things that were needed. Daryl knew he was on watch because out of the four of them he could spot things quicker than any of them, he also had the best shot. But he found his eyes darting to Carol more often than Rick or Glenn and he knew it was because of how protective he seemed to be.

"This stuff is heavy," Glenn said through gritted teeth. "We're trying to move as fast as we can."

"Well move faster then," Daryl snapped. "Or I'll come over and swap with ya."

"No," Rick said sternly as they threw the material into the back of the truck. "You notice things quicker than any of us. I need to spot trouble before it even starts."

"Glenn can do that," Daryl shrugged as he scanned the horizon. "He don't got Maggie here to distract him."

"Hey you take that back!" Glenn ordered, almost dropping the fresh material he'd just helped Rick to pick up.

"Make me," Daryl shot back, turning on the cab of the truck to look at him.

Both men glared at each other but Glenn struggled a little as they brought the material over to the truck. Daryl refused to look away, he liked Glenn, he did, but he was in a pretty bad mood as it was. They were doing good then walkers get into the site and he's forced to bring Carol on a run. If walkers getting in wasn't a sign of a bad omen the he didn't know what was.

"Erm, Daryl," Carol called.

She sounded calm so he gave it a moment. "Give me just a second."

"We might not have a second," she hissed.

He and Glenn both tore their eyes away from each other to look towards Carol. Daryl's stomach dropped when he saw that she was essentially trapped. She was by a wall that they must have been in the middle of building. She was stuck under the scaffolding. There was a chance she could climb up it but it didn't look stable. A group of walkers were closing in on her and she held her knife up.

"Shoot 'em!" he shouted to her.

"I'll draw more of them!"

He cursed, jumping down from the truck. He shot the two at the back and raced forward. He could hear Rick and Glenn behind him. He grabbed one of the arrows, wiped it, loaded it and fired again. He did the same with the second arrow, before taking a third clean one and firing that. There were two more, edging dangerously close to Carol now.

Rick and Glenn were closing in, not wanting to use their guns either in case they drew any more. Daryl raised his bow and aimed. He managed to shoot one of them. He managed to quickly take back the arrows he had fired. As he was reloading he saw Rick get closer. Just as he watched Rick raise his knife and go to stab the walker it stumbled away. Carol must have mood slightly, or something caught its attention because it moved the opposite way to Rick.

Daryl watched, unable to do a thing as it stumbled into the scaffolding. As his mind caught up he raced forward. The scaffolding started to shake and bit by bit it fell. Rick reached his hand out to Carol but the force of it all falling pushed the two of them apart. Glenn went to Rick as Daryl ran straight to the pile.

"Carol!"

He dropped his bow in a flash and started to move things out of the way. Every so often he would stop and shout. Glenn was the next to reach him, pulling as much as he could out of the way. Rick stayed nearby, pulling away what he could but lifting away every so often to scan the area for any more walkers.

Daryl stopped suddenly and looked down at his feet. Both Glenn and Rick turned to look as well. All three pairs of eyes fell on a small pool of blood drizzling out of the bottom of the pile.

* * *

**A/N: **_I wasn't going to end it there, but then I decided I might try and be cruel. Ha, I'll try not to make you wait too long! Seriously though, thank you all for the wonderful reviews. I love knowing that you like this story but I love it more when you guys tell me what bit you liked the best from the new chapters. It's great to read! So again, thank you so much!_

R&R


	25. Chapter 25

Daryl tried to remember how to breathe as he continued to try and get to Carol. On one hand he figured the blood might be a good thing if she was near the edge of the pile, but then he thought about the fact that if she wasn't then the blood would have had to travel. He tried to convince himself that it belonged to the walker that had been nearby, but he could see half of it squashed beneath the pile, a little way off from where the blood was pooling. Every positive thought he had about the situation was replaced by a negative one almost instantly.

Glenn was shifting material just as quickly as him. Part of him wanted to shout for Rick to help more but then he thought what was the point in getting Carol out then all four of them turning to see more walkers because no one was watching? His mind was at war with himself and it only made him more frustrated. She should never have come on this run. He knew from the moment that that fence started to come down that today was going to be a bad day. He could just feel it and he was right. Carol was trapped and no matter how fast he moved he didn't seem to be getting to her any quicker.

Suddenly Glenn stopped beside him. "I think I've gotten through."

Daryl moved Glenn out of the way and stepped in his place. There was a small gap where you could see right through to the ground. He couldn't spot Carol but it was still a break in the structure. He pushed his hand into the hole, ignoring how the bits of wood and metal scraped at his hand. Once his hand was completely in he hooked his fingers onto something and pulled towards himself.

Slowly he was able to pull out what he was holding. It created a bigger hole and he instantly looked into it. His eyes adjusted slowly as he tried to find her. It seemed impossible until his eyes settled on a foot. It wasn't moving but it was definitely her foot, he could tell. Her boot wasn't on properly but it was still _her_ foot. There was no blood around it so he prayed that she wasn't as badly hurt as he first thought.

Now that he had some rough idea of where she was, he started to pull at the pile in specific areas. Glenn tried to widen the hole. The more they pulled away the more careful they had to be. It was getting to the point that if they weren't careful then the rest of it could collapse onto her again. By reluctantly slowing down their movements they were able to work together in order to free her while still preventing the rest of it to collapse onto her again.

"I wouldn't move anymore," Glenn warned.

"Why not?" Daryl growled. "We almost got her."

She was right there. He could see her body now. A little more and he'd find the arm that was hidden and her face. They were so close and Glenn wanted to stop? Well he couldn't stop. He wasn't going to.

"This piece of wood," Glenn said, touching it with his hand. "It's a plank. The long bit that they stand on. It's going in above her. I think it's supported but if we move something and that falls, it could be fatal."

"Could? You don't know?"

"It depends how heavy it is, and where it is over her."

Daryl thought about it for a moment, sizing up the material that still surrounded her. "Do ya think you can drag her out?"

"Won't that cause more damage?"

"Yeah, but will it cause more or less damage than that falling on her?"

"Less probably," Glenn agreed.

Daryl moved to where he could see Carol's feet. The pile that had once been there was completely different now. He was pleased with how fast they had worked. There was a piled right at the back by the wall they had been building. It reached forward till you hit the gap where most of Carol's body could be seen. There was a small pile framing it but every time they tried to move something now a lot more fell.

"Try and move this stuff here," Daryl instructed, motioning to the pile near her feet.

"What if more falls?" Glenn argued.

"We just need enough to space to drag her through."

"What are you going to do?"

"Make sure nothing falls."

Glenn didn't question it. Instead they set to work, picking up speed when Rick had to take out two walkers. Luckily he was able to take them out with his knife so maybe no more would come.

Daryl and Glenn made a gap in the pile. Glenn stepped between the gap and reached down. He gripped Carol's ankles and waited. Daryl stood with his feet apart. He put his hands as far under the plank of wood and waited. Glenn gently tugged on Carol's ankles as he slowly waked back. Every time he met resistance he would stop then move again, sometimes pulling at a different angle.

Daryl could see her other arm, then her neck but before he could see her face things started to move. The plank was slipping. He tried his hardest to keep it raised but with the stuff still piled on it it was a lot heavier than he first thought. He gripped it tight and dug his feet into the ground. Glenn tried to pull quicker. Daryl caught a glimpse of her face as he tried to keep the plank from slipping.

"Hurry up," Daryl growled. "And make sure to check on her."

"Are you guys done?" Rick yelled. "I can see more walkers. They must smell the blood!"

"Almost!" Glenn called.

He gave one big tug and managed to pull Carol completely free of the structure. A split second later the plank slipped from Daryl's grasp. It crashed into the ground, burying it's self and no doubt leaving a very obvious impression. Daryl couldn't help but imagine if that was Carol instead of the ground. She would have broken more than a few bones for sure. Damn thing was heavy, it was thick as anything and strong. He knew right now that he could probably kiss Glenn for pointing out the plank before and being there to help him.

Without thinking too much of what could have been he rushed over to Carol and Glenn. He was checking her airways and making sure she was breathing. Daryl's heart was going into overdrive as he looked down at her. She was pale, really pale. Her top was covered in blood and it had smeared all over neck and part of her face. It was impossible to see where it was coming from. If it wasn't for the very gentle rise and fall of her chest he would have believed she was dead.

"How are we doing?" Rick asked.

"She's alive," Glenn told him. "But not for long if we don't get her back to Hershel. We need to go."

They all went into action. They had gotten enough material and tools to fix the fence. If they needed more they could come back or head into the next town to look for a DIY store. Daryl crouched down and scooped Carol up. Glenn rushed to the truck and jumped into the truck bed with the material. Daryl got into the passenger side, putting Carol in the middle while Rick got into the driver's side.

Rick drove as fast as the car would allow him and then some. Daryl kept a tight grip Carol who was slumped next to him, unconscious. He managed to find a wound on her. A large gash on her side. He tried to keep pressure on it as they drove, hoping it was the only wound she had. It was tearing him apart to think that there could be more of them and he was doing nothing to make it better.

The journey seemed a lot longer going back than it felt getting there. Daryl knew deep down that Rick couldn't go any faster than what he was doing, and Glenn could do no more and keep an eye out for anything that Rick might miss. It didn't stop Daryl from wanting to snap. Carol was still out cold and he could swear that blood was seeping through his fingers.

* * *

Daryl stood in a daze as everyone worked around him. They had managed to get back to the site and Carol was still breathing. Glenn was out first. He pushed through the gate as Maggie and Carl opened it up. He went straight to Hershel and explained everything. Beth had set Judith down in her Moses basket before going to help her Dad set up. Daryl had carried Carol in and laid her down on the big table where Hershel was.

Daryl wasn't sure why they had decided to work on her outside but they were working on her. He was frozen. He had been since he noticed the amount of blood on his hands and clothes. He didn't think she had been bleeding that much. It didn't help his cause when Hershel pulled off Carol's boots and cut off her clothes.

Glenn, Andrea, Michonne and Rick moved away to give her some privacy while the others stayed in case Hershel needed help. Merle had stayed on his perch by the broken fence but Daryl notice him look over every now and again as if checking on the situation. He didn't know if it helped him to have less people watching Carol lie there in her underwear or if it made him feel worse because there were less people to help her.

He tried to distract himself by washing his hands and arms in the bowl of water that Maggie had gotten for him. He then changed into a shirt that someone (he was unsure who) had gotten him. As well as that he snatched up a bandage and some anti-septic spray. He cleaned his grazed hand and wrapped the bandage around it.

He watched as Hershel went to the wound on Carol's side. It gave him some relief to know that that must be the most pressing wound she had. Hershel cleaned it up and checked it for any foreign objects before stitching it up. He then moved to a gash just under one of her breasts. He repeated the same process with this. There were more scattered along her torso but they were tiny. No longer than Daryl's own pinky finger, they barely needed a handful of stitches.

Her legs were completely fine bar a few bruises. Her arms lightly littered with grazes and bruises. The blood had all come from her torso but even those gashes had really no effect on Daryl compared to the bruise he could see forming on her face. The skin there was bright red but he could already see it starting to turn purple. It made him feel sick and angry because he hadn't paid her attention straight away when she had called for him. It was her fault that she was lying there.

He watched as Hershel gently cleaned her bit by bit, wiping the blood away and putting antiseptic spray on the cuts. He patched up her injuries as best as he could. Daryl had to turn his back on the scene as Hershel worked. He was getting more and more angry with himself as he watched her being worked on. It was only when he was asked to carry her inside that he turned back to them, but even then he didn't look directly at her.

They took her into the Greene house and set her on the couch in the living room. Everyone cleared out once she was settled apart from Hershel and Daryl. He checked her over while Daryl stood a little way off.

"Won't she need more blood or somethin'?" Daryl asked.

"I doubt everyone here knows their blood type and I'm not so sure what Carol's is," Hershel explained. "I don't want to risk making her worse. We'll just need to keep an eye on her, maybe do something else to help her if she gets worse but for now we wait."

"How long do we wait?"

"Don't you worry, you sit here with her and I'll come back and check on her."

"I don't know," Daryl mumbled.

"I'm not a hundred percent sure what happened, Glenn rushed the story," Hershel explained. "But I do know that this is not your fault. Accidents happen and I hear that you and Glenn got her out."

He nodded. "But if I listened to her when she first shouted then I could have gotten to her quicker."

"You don't know that," Hershel told him. "Sit with her, and don't beat yourself up."

Daryl sighed as Hershel left the room. He wanted to be angry at the older man for meddling but he found himself actually listening to the advice he had been given. He sat down cross-legged on the floor beside the couch. He laid his hand on the couch near her hand. He tried to swallow down all the bad emotions he felt rising up, he wanted to be positive and think about her being OK and waking up soon.

Her breathing was a little off but more obvious. It settled him to be able to hear her. His eyes would roam over her every now and again just to make sure that her chest was rising and falling. The blanket that was draped over her covered most of her injuries so Daryl wasn't faced with what he deemed was his fault.

Her breathing changed slightly and her body shifted. Daryl's hand gripped her hand this time as he watched her face for any sign of her waking up. She rolled onto her side slightly, whimpering a little as she did. Daryl held his breath but she didn't open her eyes. At least not straight away. One eye cracked open slightly. She stared at him for a moment before a smile touched her lips.

"I didn't think the view in heaven would be this good," she mumbled with a tiny smile.

He wanted to laugh as relief flooded him. She was OK, she was fine. He wanted to shake her for scaring him like that but then her eyes closed and she drifted off again, leaving Daryl to keep an eye on her and marvel in the fact that she really was going to be alright.

* * *

_R&R_


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: **_Ah, Sims 3 have taken over my life so yeah, but it did put me in a good mood to write, anyway, love you guys! Almost 200 reviews, 138 follows and 64 favourites! That is insane, you are all amazing and I appreciate every single one of you, even if you just read :D You make it so worth it._

* * *

Daryl woke with something nudging him. He wasn't quite sure what it was but all he knew was that it was keeping him from sleeping. He slowly opened his eyes and tried to focus on something. He could feel that he was hunched over and that his arms were his pillow but he couldn't quite remember where he was or why. It was only when there was movement nearby that he seemed to have some recognition of where he was.

He straighten up, realising that he was still sat on the floor and had been hunched over, leaning on the couch as he slept. It was Carol who had nudged him. She was still waking up but she must have shifted in her sleep or just as she woke. He didn't say anything and just waited for her to wake herself up properly.

"Daryl?" He reached out a hand and gently squeezed hers. She squeezed back gently before turning her head to face him. She smiled slightly as soon as her eyes found him. "You slept here?"

"Dozed off," he nodded.

"What happened?"

"You can't remember?" he questioned with a frown.

"It's a little hazy," she admitted. "I'd rather you told me so I can be sure."

"We went lookin' for materials for the fence."

"I remember that," she agreed. "Did they sort the fence?"

He shrugged. "Dunno, I've been here, but when Hershel came in to check on you he said they were sortin' it out."

She nodded, seemingly lost in thought. "That's good."

"Anyways, at the site you was off a little from us, by some structure," he explained. "You shouted to me and I ignored ya, asked ya to wait a second."

"There were walkers," she continued, as if remembering. "And the last one stumbled… I was trapped."

"Yeah." He nodded, refusing to look at her. "Couldn't get ya out too quick. You've got some stitches, minor cuts and bruises… Then some not so minor ones."

She tried to squeeze his hand again but he retracted it. He felt nothing but shame and guilt. If he had just listened to her and paid her some attention straight away then she wouldn't be hurt. If he hadn't been so intent on his stupid fight with Glenn then he could have gotten to her before any of this happened.

"Daryl, you did nothing wrong," she told him. "It was unavoidable. So quit blaming yourself and help me up."

His head shot up, eyes meeting hers. "Why?"

"I want to see how bad I look," she explained. "Plus my body is going numb lying like this."

He got up and stood near her head. Carefully, and a little unsure, he bent down. His arms hooked under her arms. Hers came up to wrap around him as he lifted slowly. Once she was sitting up straight he moved and lifted her up into his arms. She readjusted the blanket that was covering her before he carried her over to the mirror that hung above the fireplace. He set her down in front of it but stood directly behind her just in case.

Firstly she wrapped the blanket around her like she would a towel. She didn't move much after that, just looked down at herself. She checked the stitches she had been given, the cuts that had been cleaned and the bruises over her body. As she stretched her ribs felt a bit tight but she didn't think it was quite enough to complain about. Once she had twisted just slightly this way and that, she looked in the mirror.

As her reflection came into view she almost gasped. She just about managed to stop herself. No wonder Daryl couldn't look at her. One side of her face might as well have been a giant purple bruise. She carefully prodded at it with her finger, trying to assess it herself. It didn't hurt quite as much as she had expected but it definitely wasn't far off as bad as it looked.

"That got worse," Daryl mumbled from behind her. "Hershel says everything else is alright though."

She nodded her head before turning around. She wrapped her arms around his middle and laid her head on his chest before he could object. She squeezed him, ignoring the pain it caused through her body until he hugged her back.

"You're not allowed to blame yourself."

"But I do," he argued.

"I don't care, I'm putting my foot down."

Despite himself he chuckled. "You are, huh?"

"Yeah, I'm taking charge," she said sternly as she pulled away slightly to look at him.

He bit his lip. "I'm on board."

She reached up on her tip toes, resting her hands on his shoulders for support, and pressed her lips to his. She squeezed his shoulders as she put more of her weight on him. Her lips pressed harder against his, her tongue flicking out against his bottom lip.

"Can't do that," he said, pulling away from the kiss. "You're hurt."

"Not that badly," she argued. "It just looks bad."

"Still, let's lie down or somethin'."

She sighed, giving in. "Fine, but can we go home?"

He tried not to smile but instead just nodded. He grabbed the clothes that Maggie had brought over for her. He went to wait outside the front of the house while she changed. He was counting in his head, planning on going back in to help her outside, but before he could she appeared there. She had pulled the shirt and ankle length skirt on. It was soft and light material that Maggie thought would be more comfortable just now. The blanket was still there, wrapped around her shoulders. She had slipped into some flats that must have been left.

"I found them," she said, looking at her feet as they stood on the front step. "They looked clean and more comfortable."

"Carol?"

Daryl had opened his mouth to talk but closed it when he heard Rick. "Yeah, she's awake."

They both turned to see Rick entering the Greene garden. He came right up to them. His hand rested on the top of Carol's arm while his other hand gently titled her head at different angles so he could examine her bruise.

"Looks worse," she shrugged.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"What's it with people blaming themselves?" she asked. "It could have happened to anyone, I was just the unlucky person. However, if it makes you feel better you can find a way for someone to take over my watch and maybe help with Judith?"

"I'll take care of Judith," he told her. "Beth still helps anyway. As for watch, don't even worry. In fact, for a few days you're to do nothing unless you can sit down and do it."

"I'm on board with that," Daryl agreed.

Rick gave Carol's arm a gentle squeeze before stepping to one side. Daryl grabbed her hand and led her away from the Greene house and over to their apartment. When they got to the steps he picked her up in order to carry her up the stairs. He only set her down when they were inside and by the couch. He sat down on the couch and reached out, placing his hands on her hips. As he laid back he carefully pulled her with him.

Carol let out a happy sigh as she situated herself between Daryl and the back of the couch. His arms wrapped around her as she rested her head on his chest. She did have a master plan but it all went to pot when she got comfortable. Before she could really argue with herself to get up and kiss him again she started to drift off to sleep.

* * *

When Carol woke this time she felt much better. She was surprisingly comfy and the initial shock of being injured wasn't there anymore. She smiled at Daryl who was awake, half beside, half beneath her. He reached a hand up and gently touch her cheek as she slowly woke up more and more.

"I'm sick of lying around."

"You need your rest," he told her.

"Daryl," she whined.

"What's wrong with lying around anyway?"

She moved so that she was lying completely on top of him. "It's boring and I've done enough of it."

"You're gonna be the death of me," he mumbled.

"Does that mean we can get up?" she asked hopefully.

"Y'know, I figured I'd be the kid in this relationship."

"Can't let you have the spot light all the time," Carol said, jabbing his chest lightly.

"You can be anything you want," he said, trailing his fingers up and down her back. "Gonna love ya just the same anyway."

She smiled at that, at warm feeling rushing through her. She pressed her lips to his before he had time to even think. His arms tightened around her as she slowly traced his lips with her tongue. His lips parted, giving her the access she wanted. Wasting no time Carol's tongue reached out to tangle with his. With every flick of her tongue Daryl felt changes in himself.

Despite not wanting to take things too far while she was like this he found himself more turned on than ever. He was battling with himself. On one side he wanted to hold her as tightly as possible and use as much force as he could muster, but the other side of him knew that he couldn't right now. He tried to just relax but it was damn near impossible. His hands were wandering and she was making it even harder to concentrate.

Carefully Daryl shifted away from her slightly. "When ya went to see Beth, said yous were talkin' about somethin', what was it?"

"You're asking this now?" she groaned.

He nodded. "Said I wasn't interested, maybe I am."

She raised an eyebrow. "Trust me Daryl, you won't be, I don't even know if I am."

"Then what's the problem?"

She bit her lip. "We were talking about kids, settling down."

Daryl gulped. He had wanted a distraction, a break, but he wasn't expecting that. "Oh?"

She nodded. "We were talking, Beth said I was good with her, she said she could see us having kids." She rolled off of him slightly. "I told her I wasn't sure, then I changed the subject to her."

"She sees us having kids?"

Carol looked up at him. Did he sound _hopeful_? "Apparently, I didn't think to ask much about it. Why?"

"You sure she said _us_?"  
_  
_Now Carol understood. "Yes, Daryl, not just me, you too."

A smile slowly appeared. "Ya positive?"

She chuckled, lifting herself up a little kiss him. "I'm positive, now why?"

"Is that what ya want?"

She looked down, feeling a little bit uncomfortable. "Thought Sophia was it for me, especially after she was gone."

"And now?"

"And now there's no point."

"But is there a possibility?" he pressed.

She shrugged. "I'm happy either way. Why are you asking this?"

"Just makin' sure we're on the same page."

"And are we?"

"I'd say so."

She curled up against his side. She had been right. Kids wasn't something that Daryl wanted, or something he was jumping for joy about. It really did help her to stop her mind from wandering too far when it came to her relationship with Daryl. Plus, wasn't she too old? Been there, done that, and did she really want to go through the possibility of what happened to Sophia to happen again?

"Hey," Daryl said softly, shifting them so he could slip away and stand up. "We missed breakfast and lunch so I'm going to go and see if they have some left overs."

"You didn't eat?" she questioned, curling back up again.

"Couldn't, I'll be back."

Almost as quickly as he'd said it he was leaving the apartment. He jogged down the stairs and over to the big table. Maggie was there with Hershel, talking away to him. When he got there he noticed two covered plates.

"Oh, they're for you," Maggie said. "Carol too."

"Thanks," Daryl mumbled. "You seen Merle or Rick?"

"Erm, Rick was walking the fence with Carl," Maggie said thoughtfully.

"And Merle is up by the breach in the fence, it's done but it needed secured and finished up," Hershel explained.

"Thanks, I'll be back for the food once I've spoken to them."

He didn't wait for a reply, he headed straight over towards Merle. He found his brother making the gap in the fence that would allow them to get between the fences. When it was done Daryl stepped forward. Merle wiped his hands and face with a rag before putting all the tools together. He put them to one side as he spotted Daryl. He straightened up and turned to face him.

Daryl stood there awkwardly, not too sure what to do. He only really wanted to know one thing, but it was the phrasing that he would have to be careful about. He wasn't in the mood for Merle, wasn't in the mood to have the piss ripped out of him.

"How much do ya reckon we'll end up like dad?"

"I _was_ a drunk, hopin' that's as much like him as I'm ever gonna get," Merle shrugged.

"What about me?"

"Nah, if I hadn't of been around I would've said you're adopted."

"So you don't think I'm gonna end up like him?"

"I'm more likely to end up like him, why?"

"Just curious, thinkin' about it now I've got Carol."

"You'd die before ya did shit to her. Plus, you'd have all hell to pay if ya did."

"Ya gonna make sure of that?" Daryl smirked.

Surprisingly Merle nodded firmly. "Ya care about her, so I'ma protect her, even if it's from you."

"I hope ya mean that," Daryl told him.

Merle only nodded his head as Daryl started walking the fence, hoping to catch up with Rick. He did feel a lot lighter. Merle had known him the longest out of everyone here, and if he could be sure that Daryl wouldn't end up like there dad then that was good enough for him. As he thought he spotted Carl and Rick in the distance coming towards him. They were chatting away so he slowed his pace down a little to at least give them the chance to finish their conversation before he swooped in.

By time he was close enough to see every detail of them clearly they'd stopped talking. Rick noticed him standing there and stopped. He motioned for him to wait a minute before turning to Carl. They shared some words before Carl nodded and continued on walking. He and Daryl nodded at each other as they passed by. Once he'd gone Daryl started to walk towards Rick.

"Something wrong?" Rick questioned.

"I was just talkin' to Carol."

"She OK?"

He nodded, biting his lip. "Told me about a conversation Beth and her had."

"About?" Rick asked, clearly confused.

"About kids," he said awkwardly.

"Right..."

"And I was wonderin', when did you and Lori know it was the right time?"

Rick's eyes grew wide. "Are you thinking about...? No, that's not the point," he said, shaking his head. "Me and Lori, right... Well, I don't know. We had spoken about kids before but it wasn't really planned. We did try at some point but it didn't seem to work so we just went with it I guess. We stopped thinking about it and when we least expected it, there he was."

"Right," Daryl nodded. "But you were both sure?"

Rick nodded slowly. "Daryl, why are you asking me this?"

"Beth said she could see me and Carol havin' kids," Daryl explained. "I asked her if that's what she wanted, said she thought Sophia was it for her."

"So what? _You_ want some but she doesn't?"

"I don't know," Daryl mumbled. "I asked if her wantin' more kids was a possibility, she was happy either way though."

"There you go, nothing to worry about, she's happy just like this."

"But she didn't seem so sure," Daryl complained. "She wouldn't even look at me properly."

"So you're thinking that maybe she does want things to change but she's too afraid to say?"

"I ain't ready for that," Daryl mumbled. "Well, not right this minute anyway but I feel bad that she can't even tell me what she wants. I was hopin' you could help me."

"Trust me," Rick sighed. "If I knew how to talk to women correctly I would've been a rich, retired man, not a Sheriff."

"So hope and pray?"

"Yeah," Rick chuckled. "When ya go back to her just talk to her, bring it up again. Sound a bit cheerful by the prospect of kids, but not too cheerful, so she knows you're OK with the idea but it's not like a life long dream or anything. Or y'know, just be completely honest with her."

_That'll be a treat_, Daryl thought to himself, but he smiled at Rick. Normally it would be Merle's voice in the back of his head mocking him, but this time it wasn't. It was a younger version of himself, laughing at the fact that Daryl was now in a serious relationship and was thinking about how or where said relationship could go even though he hadn't even had sex yet. Yeah, younger Daryl was laughing hard at that.

* * *

**A/N: **_Sigh, I like serious Caryl sometimes. Ha, if the idea of kids ever because more than just an idea it will be **very** far in the future, and that depends on what you all think of the idea anyway :) I also want them to get it on after something serious. So that could be a conversation like they had in this chapter, good news, more drama... Just something that would push the two of them together and lead to them having sex. I'm totally open for ideas so don't be afraid to voice your opinion!_

R&R


	27. Chapter 27

Daryl tried to remain calm as he carried the two plates back to the apartment. For now he was going to try and play it cool. He wanted to have a breather first if they were going to talk about this. All he really wanted was to be selfish for a bit and keep Carol all to himself. Of course he would tell her not to worry about talking to him about that sort of thing, that if it's with her he'll be opened minded, but until he's sure he_ could_ share her then he would leave the most serious conversation of his life till a bit later.

When he entered the apartment he just smiled at her as he joined her on the couch. He handed over one of the plates before sitting back on his own. He pulled the foil away that had been used to cover it. There wasn't much there. Some meat which would unfortunately be cold now, some vegetables, a bit of soup and some sauce on the side which thankfully hadn't dried up. Daryl dipped every bite into the sauce first as he tried to think of what to talk to when they did indeed finish.

"Daryl, are you okay?"

He cursed internally. This woman spotted things about him way too easily. "What makes ya ask?"

"Well, for starters you're avoiding giving me an answer… And second, you were gone a while."

"Oh, sorry, I wanted to check on the breach," he explained. "Make sure the fence was fixed."

"Are you sure it wasn't about what we discussed?"

Daryl sighed, setting his plate down as he shuffled to her side of the table. "You can talk to me about _anything_," he told her. "Anything you want and I promise to be open minded. I also promise not to shut an idea off completely."

"For something like that..." Carol started, setting her own plate aside. "You know, something as serious, I would want to come up with a compromise. Something that would make us both happy."

"Then I say for now you just let me kiss ya."

"I'm too injured."

Her words would have been enough to make him step back but then the smile on her face only drew him further in. "Is that right?"

She nodded, biting her lip. He moved deliberately slow towards her. She kept her eyes on him as she tried to move away, but then he was there, hovering over her. He made sure none of his weight was actually on her but that his body was blocking any form of escape. She pretended to try and get away but every time she did Daryl would tickle her. Light touches here and there that made her shiver and laugh.

Carol was laughing so much that Daryl was sure it must have hurt but she looked so happy. She had stopped pretending to get away but was still wriggling about. Daryl knew he should probably give her a moment to breathe and to make sure her injuries were okay but her laughter made it impossible to stop. Instead he switched to something just as good.

The second his hand pulled away Carol started to even her breathing out but she still pouted up at him. He only smirked and just as she went to say something he pressed his lips to hers. The initial shock soon wore off and she was kissing him back, giving just as much as he was. As she kissed him she kept her arms by her side, letting him decide what he wanted to do.

She was actually pleasantly surprised when he set up a gentle pace. His hands ghosted over her as he kissed her firmly yet slowly. Carol allowed her hands to go to his hair, tangling themselves there and she sat back and enjoyed herself.

* * *

The next day wasn't exactly an easy one for Daryl. He had been so gentle with Carol yesterday because he was hoping she would rest up and get herself better, but that wasn't the case. As soon as they woke up the next day she demanded to go outside. He tried to stop her and get her to take it easy but she was persistent.

Eventually he gave in. He insisted on carrying her down the stairs and once they had cleared them he put his arm around her waist. She disapproved, saying that she didn't need the support but she still leaned into him anyway. As they made their way across to the outside table Carol developed a triumphant grin that Daryl tried his hardest to ignore.

"I'll be fine here," Carol told him as she spotted Beth with Judith. "You go and do what you need to."

"I don't know," he said unsurely, helping her to sit.

"I'm fine, honestly," Carol insisted. "Beth and Judith are here, plus, Judith rarely makes a fuss now."

Daryl looked hesitant but he knew he'd upset her more by staying. "Fine, but just yell for me if ya need me."

"I will, I promise."

He reluctantly left her and Beth shuffled closer. The two of them watched Judith who was sat in her high chair, hitting at the tray table. There were a couple of toys sitting on the table, things that had been found on runs.

"Daryl's worried," Beth noticed.

"Yeah, and he's keeping something from me."

"What makes you say that?"

"I told him what you said about us," Carol explained. "We talked a little about it, and a little after he went to get us food but I feel like there's something more."

"Well, what did he say?"

"He said that I could talk to him about anything and he'd be open minded," she told Beth. "He promised not to completely say no to anything. I don't know, I feel like he said that to make me happy." She let out a long sigh as she rested her hands on the table. "When did we get so serious?"

"Probably since you've practically been in a relationship since the prison, maybe before that."

"We have not," she argued.

"Might as well have been," Beth laughed. "You guys have been through some serious things. You know a bit about his past, he knows about yours. He's comfortable with you, you're both stronger for being near each other. You've done more for each other before even beginning a relationship. You already had a head start, it's normal to feel ready for something more serious."

Carol thought about that for a moment. When she met Ed or any of her past boyfriends it had been awkward at first. Even back when Ed was nice it had been awkward. There was all those first conversations, first dates, first declarations. But with Daryl it was different. By time they reached their relationship stage it was too late for dates, they had had a million conversations if not more and it was clear they already felt something for each other, plus, neither really expected any sort of huge deceleration from the other.

"You're too smart," Carol chuckled.

Beth smiled. "Well, you might end up thinking I'm even smarter. I've got an idea."

"An idea?"

"You said you told Daryl about what I said about you guys having kids, right?" Carol nodded her head in agreement. "And he didn't give you a straight answer on how he felt?"

"No, it just seemed clear that he didn't want any, but now he's saying that he'll be open minded about anything, or try to be."

"Then I have an idea to get you a straight answer, or to get you both the true answer."

"Am I getting in on this plan?" Carol asked as Beth stood up.

She shook her head as she started to back away from the table. "Nope, stay here with Judith, I'm going to set this plan into motion!"

Carol shook her head as Beth jogged away from the table. The plan clearly affected her and Daryl but she felt more sorry for him. She only prayed that Beth's plan wasn't too extravagant.

* * *

_R&R_


	28. Chapter 28

The next day Carol and Daryl left the apartment again. She didn't look tired or to be in pain so Daryl put up less of a fight. Carol knew it was down to the night before. A wandering hand and a few kisses to the side of his neck had him agreeing to pretty much anything she said. Getting him to let her leave the apartment again was easy for her.

The two of them were almost at the table when Beth came up to them. Judith was in her Moses basket at the end of the table, making noises.

"What's wrong?" Carol asked, looking passed Beth at Judith.

"I have something to do, I can't wait to do it," she said urgently. "I have to go now and I need you guys to look after Judith for me."

"We can do that," Carol agreed.

Beth thanked them both before rushing off. Carol grabbed Daryl's hand and pulled him towards where Judith was perched. They both sat down and listened to her gurgle away. She kept pretty quiet but every time she tried out a different noise or went completely silent Daryl would peer into the basket. Carol grew suspicious and it only grew more when Beth came back over.

Carol just shook her head and rolled her eyes as Beth said that she was needed and she needed to come now. This was clearly part of Beth's plan, Carol just had to work out how exactly. She didn't say anything, however, instead she got up and followed Beth away from the table.

They entered the Greene house and as soon as they were inside Beth ran to the living room. Carol followed to see Beth peering through the curtains. Carol joined to find the perfect view of Daryl sitting on the bench. They watched as he reached his hands into the basket. He carefully lifted Judith out and situated the little girl in his arms. From this angle it looked like he was talking to her but Carol couldn't be sure. As the two of them sat together Daryl held his hand out, his palm facing Judith. She slapped it, held on to it and drew on it with her finger.

"Look how cute," Beth breathed out excitedly.

As Carol looked between Beth and the scene outside she became slightly more aware of the plan. She kept quiet as she watched some more, hoping Beth had more to her plan so she could be absolutely sure of what was going on.

* * *

The plan didn't become any more obvious as the day went on. Carol tried to see if Beth would confirm her suspicions or give anything else away. Carol wanted to let Daryl in on it, tell him that Beth was up to something but she knew not knowing exactly what the plan was or the extent of it would drive him mad.

It was close to dinner when Carol became more aware of the plan and the extent it was going to. She was cooking dinner and Beth was helping her out. Judith was with Rick at the table. Andrea and Michonne were on watch, Merle was hunting a little for tomorrow but Carol suspected he just wanted out for a bit. Maggie and Glenn were nowhere to be found and Hershel was in the Grimes house with Carl.

Everything seemed well fitted. Daryl had walked the perimeter slightly after seeing Merle out of the grounds. It was when he came back over that alarm bells went off in Carol. Daryl sat down at the table, striking up a conversation with Rick. They were in the middle of a conversation when Carl shouted for his dad from the house. Rick, looking a little flustered, handed Judith to Daryl and headed towards the house.

That was plausible. Daryl was the closest person and everyone else was busy, but wasn't it convenient that no one else was around? Merle had been rattled, Hershel have stuff to do, Beth was helping Carol and Andrea and Michonne were on watch. Even if Maggie and Glenn were locked in their room they had nothing to do and neither did Carl. Everyone had cleared away or made themselves busy.

Beth's plan. It seemed to Carol that her plan was to have Judith in Daryl's care as often as possible. But for what? To see how Daryl would be with a kid? To see how he coped? What his feelings were? Knowing Beth they could all be part of the plan and more. The thing that she definitely knew was that Beth wasn't in this alone. Carol wasn't sure how much any of the others knew but Beth certainly wasn't working along.

"What have you told the others exactly?"

Beth looked sideways at Carol as she threw in some chopped veg to the stew. "About what?"

"You know what, your plan, the others are helping."

"Fine," Beth laughed, giving in. "Rick and Carl are in on it, no one else. It was just pure luck that everyone was out of the way just now. Rick and Carl agreed to help whenever they could."

"So they know what you're trying to achieve?"

Beth nodded. "Yeah, Rick seemed eager to help as long as I told him why so I had to. Carl kind of overheard, but he won't say anything and I figured if anyone knew what I was trying to do you'd rather it be Rick."

"So how long are you going to make Daryl look after Judith?"

"To the point where he should be tearing his hair out."

"What do you mean should?" Carol asked, raised eyebrow.

"Well if he completely tears his hair out and snaps then we have an answer," Beth explained. "_But_ if he feels like tearing his hair out and _almost_ snaps then it's the answer I would prefer and I think you would too."

Carol thought about that for a moment. Daryl snapping at someone so young would really scream that he's not ready for kids and it would certainty help him decide if he wanted some. Really it killed two birds with one stone. Carol started to wonder how much mischief Beth got up to that they didn't know about.

"Don't push him too far," Carol warned. "Wind him up far enough and he'll be dangerous when he snaps."

"Oh, I know what I'm doing."

"Well in that case you can stay here and finish this," Carol decided. "I'm going to help Daryl."

She wandered over to Daryl and sat down. He smiled at her briefly as he pretended to understand whatever Judith was babbling on about. Whenever she hit her firsts against something or her voice got louder he would gasp or look shocked, then whenever she just babbled along he would look interested and urge her to continue.

When Judith was off babbling quietly to herself he looked up at Carol again. The two of them sat there for a moment before Daryl dragged her into the conversation with Judith. From the way she talked and how Daryl responded, Carol couldn't help but laugh at the whole thing. It was the most ridiculous thing she had ever done. She thought unintelligible yet hilarious conversations were way behind her but apparently not.

Suddenly Daryl wasn't paying attention to Judith but only to Carol, making her a little nervous now. "What?"

"Just you laughing like that…"

"Laughing like what… Daryl?"

"Dinner's ready!" Beth yelled as she came over with the food.

As soon as she was close enough Daryl set Judith in her high chair then grabbed Carol's hand. He pulled her from the table, completely ignoring the food they passed. Carol looked back at it, wondering what on Earth was happening until she saw the glint in Daryl's eyes and then she had some clue.

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**A/N: **_Short, I know but I think you guys might like the milestone they'll hit in the next chapter ;)_

R&R


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N: **_This wasn't meant to take this long to do, but I wanted to be careful with it. I hope either way it was worth the wait because you guys are awesome. I love the reviews you all give, they make me smile every time, so thank you._

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As soon as they were past the front door Daryl had Carol flush against him, his lips descending on hers before she could even utter a word. He grinned down at her as he pulled away. She bit her lip, curious as to what he might do next. The second he pulled her in the direction of the bedroom her breath caught. She pulled him, stopping his intent with a press of her lips against hers.

He groaned, pulling them instead to the couch. It didn't bother either of them, they both knew now that they would never make it to the bedroom. He got to the couch first, sitting down and pulling her with him as they kissed. He made to lie down and she clumsily climbed on top of him. They kissed for a long time before she felt Daryl shifting and then he was pulling away and biting his bottom lip.

"What's the matter?" she questioned.

"Wonderin'if this has burnt a hole in my pocket yet."

Carol giggled as he pulled the condom out of his pocket. "How long have you had that? And where did you get it?"

"God, I forget," he admitted. "Stole it from Glenn though, kids got enough for this apocalypse, the next apocalypse and then some. He ain't gonna be repopulating the world for a long time."

Carol hit his chest but she was stilling laughing. "Well, actually, if you keep stealing them from him…"

A grin split across Daryl's face. "Are you sayin' what I think?"

"I'm saying if you don't hurry up we won't even have a use for this one."

He leaned up to kiss her once more. "Impatient."

"Oh really? Give me five seconds." She pecked his lips before standing, extracting a groan from Daryl. "See, who's being impatient now?"

She slipped into the bedroom before he could throw a response back. As soon as the door was shut she ran to the chest of drawers where her things were. She fiddled through them, pleading with God to present her with something decent. Daryl could look good in anything. She'd seen him covered in blood, guts, sweat, muck, and stuff she didn't even want to think about, but he still managed to look good. She definitely didn't feel the same about herself and her ability to pull anything off.

Finally she was presented with a set of underwear that looked decent enough. They were black with a very subtle pattern through it. They were in one piece and any other problems with them went unnoticed with the colour. She slipped out of her clothes before pulling on the new underwear. One she had them on she pulled on a slightly comfier top and a pair of cotton shorts. Her legs weren't exactly the greatest in her opinion but she felt much better about them after hygiene products were found on the last run.

With a deep breath she headed outside. Daryl was lounged up on the couch, fiddling with the foil thoughtfully. She smiled, making her way over to him. He smirked the second he saw her.

"I know I'm new to this, but you're making it a bit too easy."

She looked down at herself with a blush. "I was thinking more on comfort."

"Make no difference," he shrugged. "They'll be off ya in a second anyway."

It was her turn to smirk. "Oh, is that right?"

He nodded, watching her like a hawk. She went to take a step back but the second she lifted her foot, he was moving. Daryl grabbed her hand and pulled her forward. They tumbled backwards onto the couch.

Daryl kissed her hard, showing absolutely no mercy. She situated herself so that she was straddling him, her hands resting on his chest as she leaned down to kiss him. As they kissed she trailed her hands down his chest till she reached his belt. She kept her hands there for a moment, enjoying the feel of his tongue against hers before she slowly stated to unbuckle it. Together they worked to get his jeans unbutton and pulled completely off of him.

The two of them smiled slightly as Daryl went to pull off Carol's shirt at the same time as Carol went to pull of Daryl's shirt. They pulled apart from each other long enough to pull their own tops off. They both marvelled in the look of each other for a bit, both running their tongues over their bottom lips. Carol's hands were slowly massaging his shoulders, her hands running up and down his neck every so often, in an attempt to keep him calm. It didn't matter how much she knew or how often he had his top off in front of her, she could tell that his scars still bothered him.

As she worked to keep him calm, his hands trailed up her back slowly. He fiddled with her clasp but not for half as long as he used to. It sprung lose and the second her bra dropped to the floor he had them flipped. Carol looked down between them with a smile, a blush growing softly. Daryl kissed down her neck slowly till he reached her chest, where his tongue flicked over each nipple until both were harden peaks. Daryl continued to tug, nibble and suck at them with his mouth and teeth.

"No more of that," Carol said breathlessly as she carefully pushed him away. "I don't want any time to chicken out."

Daryl nodded his head, short and a little stiff. They pulled away from each other long enough to slowly rid themselves of their clothes. Each movement was careful but still a little clumsy. Carol closed her eyes softly as she heard the rip of foil. All coherent thoughts were out of the question as she felt Daryl situate himself between her legs. The skin on skin contact sent a shockwave through her. Usually when they were together they would be in a half-dress state or only one of them would be moderately naked.

She gasped as the tip of him pressed against her entrance. He made to move away but her hands quickly came up to his neck, keeping him where he was. Her nails scratched softly at the base of his neck. She shivered and slowly pushed into her. Carol's back arched and she bit her lip, almost to the point of drawing blood.

"I'm sorry," Daryl whispered, stilling all movement the second he was completely inside of her.

"It's okay," she told him, revealing in the fact that her body was adjusting to him. "It's just been a while. Are you okay?"

"Trying not to lose it," he admitted through gritted teeth.

"Don't worry about that, just move."

She lifted her hips as a form of encouragement. He pulled out of her at a painfully slow speed before pushing ever so gently into her again. His rhythm was a little off and unsteady but neither of them complained. Carol's back arched slightly as his thrusts became a lot stronger and more in time. Daryl was kissing every bit of her that he could reach as he tried to concentrate on what he was doing.

"Carol, I-"

Carol's hands were on the back of her neck, pulling him to her, effectively cutting him off as she kissed him. He groaned as she nibbled at his bottom lip. His movements became a little more feral. Both were moaning loudly now, gasping whenever there was an unexpected shift in movement. Daryl buried his head in the crook of Carol's neck as her nails raked up and down his back lightly.

Carol clenching softly around him and Daryl biting her neck in response had them both tumbling over the edge. He groaned as she gasped. Both of them came hard and fast, feeling a high that compared to nothing either of them had felt before. Both kept very still until Daryl finally lost all of his strength and collapsed beside her.

"Well that was…"

"Short?" Daryl suggested.

"Not what I was going to say at all."

"Good, 'cause I think you about killed me," he admitted. "So I ain't gonna be able to redeem myself tonight."

"You might want to stop doing that then." She shuddered, trying to ignore the way he was running the tip of his tongue up and down her neck. "Otherwise you're not going to get a chance to recharge."

"Does this mean I have to steal from Glenn more often?" he asked with a slightly chuckle, but when she started to giggle he frowned. "What?"

"I feel like such a kid, I've never been this happy, at least not for a long time," she admitted. "This, you, is the best decision I've made since having Sophia. I just- God, everything just feels so good again."

"I'll make you feel good whenever you want."

She rolled over so that they were nose to nose. "I'm all yours, Daryl."

His arm wrapped around her, holding her close. "Like I'd have it any other way."

"I'll take that as a, 'yes Carol, I'm all yours too'."

He chuckled, resting his forehead against hers. "Like I said, I wouldn't have it any other way."

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_R&R_


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